Were you recently hurt in an oilfield accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico? Call Jones Injury Attorneys at (505) 248-1400 for a free consultation. Oil and gas extraction workers have rights, especially when there’s an accident on the job. Our experienced Albuquerque oilfield accident lawyers can help you fight for the compensation you deserve.
Oilfield accidents often lead to complex legal claims involving multiple parties, severe injuries, and long-term consequences for workers and their families. An experienced legal advocate can help protect your rights, evaluate the full value of your claim, and pursue the compensation you deserve.
Why Hire Jones Injury Attorneys After an Oilfield Accident in Albuquerque, NM?
As a worker in one of the nation’s most dangerous industries, you put your life and safety on the line every day. When you get hurt in the course of your employment, you deserve to work with an attorney who will go above and beyond to help you get your life back on track. That’s why injured oil and gas extraction workers turn to Jones Injury Attorneys.
Here are some reasons why clients in Albuquerque, NM, choose us:
- Drawing on over 25 years of collective legal experience, we’ve successfully obtained tens of millions of dollars in benefits, settlement agreements, and verdicts at trial.
- Our Albuquerque personal injury lawyers are recognized as Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Business First’s Women of Influence, and Members of the American Association for Justice and the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association.
- As a boutique law firm, we intentionally limit the number of cases we handle so that each client benefits from the intensive, focused representation they need to achieve the best possible case results. When you’re our client, you’re our top priority.
- We take pride in offering hands-on, trustworthy legal representation when clients need it most. When you ask for our help after an oilfield accident in Albuquerque, we want you to take the time you need to focus on your recovery.
- You’ll be able to count on our skilled legal team to investigate your situation, gather evidence that can help to move the needle in your favor, and work hand-in-hand with respected experts and specialists to build a personal injury case that changes your life.
Call us to learn more about your rights as an injured oilfield worker in New Mexico and how we might be able to help you get the financial justice you deserve. We provide a complimentary case evaluation with an Albuquerque personal injury attorney.
Representing Workers Who’ve Been Hurt in All Types of Oilfield Accidents Near Albuquerque
While Albuquerque doesn’t sit on a major oilfield, it is close to two of the most productive oilfields in the continental United States – the Permian Basin and the San Juan Basin. Employees from Albuquerque and all across New Mexico and surrounding states travel to these oilfields every day to extract oil and gas from the earth.
Jobs range from drilling, welding, exploring, refining, petrochemical manufacturing, to transporting raw materials and resources. These jobs can be inherently dangerous. In fact, research shows that oil and gas industry jobs are 2.5 times deadlier than construction jobs and 7 times more dangerous than general labor positions.
Every year, hundreds of workers in the oil and gas industry – including those working on New Mexico oilfields – suffer serious and debilitating injuries in work-related accidents, including:
- Slip and fall accidents
- Falls from heights
- Caught in/between machinery
- Electrocution accidents
- Chemical exposure
- Fires and explosions
- Pipeline failure accidents
- Struck by falling objects
- Truck accidents
- Equipment malfunction accidents
At Jones Injury Attorneys, we have years of hands-on legal experience fighting for victims of devastating oilfield accidents and injuries. Don’t hesitate to put our knowledge, winning legal strategies, and passion for justice into your corner after you’ve been hurt while working on a New Mexico oilfield, too.
What Causes Oilfield Accidents and Injuries?
Even though oil and gas extraction practices are heavily regulated by state law, federal law, and the industry at large, oilfield accidents are still an all-too-common occurrence.
Many times, these accidents happen because employers prioritize profits over the health and safety of their workers by:
- Failing to provide workers with personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Hiring unqualified or inexperienced laborers
- Failing to provide appropriate training and supervision, especially for new workers
- Failing to inspect oilfields regularly for potential hazards and safety threats
- Providing workers with unsafe or defective equipment and tools
- Failing to conduct regular equipment inspections and maintenance
- Failing to identify geological instabilities in the oilfield
- Nonadherence to important safety standards and practices
Knowing why your oilfield accident happened will be essential to winning your personal injury case. Our New Mexico oilfield accident attorneys in Albuquerque will work hard to understand the underlying cause, identify your rights as a victim, and fight to help you exhaust every avenue for obtaining compensation from those responsible.
Common Oilfield Accident Injuries
It’s common for workers on New Mexico oilfields to suffer serious injuries, including:
- Burn injuries
- Crushing injuries
- Soft tissue injuries
- Nerve damage
- Amputation injuries
- Degloving injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Back injuries
- Neck injuries
- Chest injuries
- Broken bones
- Leg injuries
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death
Report your injuries to your supervisor immediately. Then, seek prompt medical attention at the closest emergency room. Once your condition is stable, reach out to our award-winning Albuquerque workplace accident attorneys to discuss your oilfield injury case.
How Much Is My Oilfield Accident Case Worth?
A lot goes into calculating how much money you could possibly receive for your oilfield accident injuries. It can depend on:
- Your injuries and their severity
- How long you are unable to work
- Temporary and/or long-term disability
- Changes in your earning capacity
- Shared responsibility for your oilfield accident injuries
- Your age and life expectancy
- The type of claim(s) you pursue
The more severely you’re wounded in an oilfield accident, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to recover a life-changing monetary award. Working with a skilled and trusted personal injury attorney in New Mexico can help to ensure that you’re able to maximize your recovery, no matter the extent of your injuries.
How Do I Get Compensation for My Oilfield Accident Injuries?
There are two primary ways to recover compensation after an accident on an oilfield near Albuquerque.
Workers’ Compensation
In New Mexico, employers in the oil and gas industry with at least three employees must carry workers’ compensation insurance. Workers’ compensation gives employees the opportunity to receive limited economic benefits when they suffer work-related injuries.
You might qualify for workers’ compensation if you’re an employee (not a contractor) and suffer injuries in the course of your employment.
Benefits can include money for:
- Necessary costs of medical care
- Temporary lost wages
- The difference between your pre-injury and post-injury wages
- Long-term disability
- Vocational rehabilitation
You can’t recover benefits for your pain and suffering or other subjective losses. Further, wage replacement benefits are limited to two-thirds of your wages and subject to statutory caps. While your claim can offer much-needed relief in the wake of an oilfield accident, it will not make you whole.
Personal Injury Lawsuit
It’s important to note that you probably can’t sue your employer if you qualify for workers’ compensation. However, you can pursue both economic damages and non-economic damages from a liable third party by filing an oilfield accident lawsuit.
Through your personal injury lawsuit, you can ask to be compensated for your:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Diminished earning capacity
- Disability
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Nursing case
- Rehabilitation
- Pain and suffering
- Chronic pain
- Loss of consortium
- Emotional distress
- Reduced quality of life
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Disfigurement
Punitive damages might also be awarded if your oilfield accident lawsuit gets to trial. In these cases, a jury has to be compelled to believe that the defendant was malicious or grossly negligent in causing your injuries.
Can I Recover Compensation if I’m Blamed for a New Mexico Oilfield Accident?
It’s possible. In fact, benefits paid under your employer’s workers’ compensation policy won’t be affected by shared fault. It’s a no-fault system, so you can generally receive benefits even if you caused your oilfield accident.
On the other hand, New Mexico’s pure comparative negligence law can affect a civil oilfield accident lawsuit. In these situations, damages are reduced proportionately to fault. For example, if you’re assigned 25 percent of the blame, any damages awarded to you in a civil claim can be reduced by 25 percent.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire an Oilfield Accident Attorney in Albuquerque?
Hiring Jones Injury Attorneys after an oilfield accident in New Mexico won’t add to your financial stress. Our contingency fee representation means we only get paid if we win.
Our fees are entirely dependent on your case results. When we win, we recover a percentage of your financial award. The percentage varies, and often depends on the type of claim you’ve filed, how long it took to recover compensation, and if your case goes to trial.
If we don’t win compensation for your oilfield accident claim, you pay nothing.
What Is the Statute of Limitations for Oilfield Injury Cases in New Mexico?
Most personal injury lawsuits in New Mexico are subject to a three-year statute of limitations. If you want to file a lawsuit with a New Mexico state court, you’ll have three years from the date of your oilfield injury to do so.
If you’ve suffered the wrongful death of a loved one in a fatal oilfield accident in Albuquerque, you’ll have three years from their passing to seek damages.
Schedule a Free Case Review With an Experienced Albuquerque Oilfield Accident Lawyer
Don’t struggle with the costs of a painful oilfield accident injury on your own. If someone else was careless or if you were given faulty work equipment in Albuquerque, New Mexico, you deserve compensation. The experienced team at Jones Injury Attorneys can help you demand a top-tier financial award.
Backed by 25+ years of combined experience litigating high-stakes, complex legal disputes, we help clients win millions from insurance companies, employers, manufacturers, and government agencies. Let us help you fight for your best interests after your oilfield accident, too.
We offer a free consultation with an Albuquerque oilfield accident lawyer, so reach out to our law office to get started now.
Visit Our Law Offices in Albuquerque, NM
Jones Injury Attorneys – Downtown
1011 Lomas Blvd NW #106
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505) 248-1400
Available: 24/7
Jones Injury Attorneys – Arroyo del Oso Office
8205 Spain Rd NE #111-B
Albuquerque, NM 87109
(505) 634-7796
Available: 24/7