Workplace Injury Lawyer Baytown, TX
At Greenberg Streich, PLLC, we’ve represented workers and families in catastrophic job-site cases across Texas for more than a decade. Our firm handles matters involving non-subscriber employers, third-party contractors, equipment manufacturers, and property owners, and we build every file as though a jury will decide it. Cases are handled on a contingency fee basis, which means no upfront cost and no attorney fees unless we recover.
If you need a Baytown, TX workplace injury lawyer workers and families can trust with a serious case, we are ready to evaluate what happened and walk you through your options.
Why Choose Greenberg Streich, PLLC for Workplace Injuries in Baytown, TX?
Trial Experience on Catastrophic Job-Site Cases
Co-founder Matt Greenberg has practiced personal injury law in Baytown, TX for 12 years, with a substantial share of his docket dedicated to oilfield, refinery, plant, and industrial workplace incidents. He has been lead trial counsel in cases that produced record-setting verdicts and settlements in Texas state and federal courts. Matt earned his J.D. at Baylor Law School through its Practice Court trial program and has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Lawdragon, and the National Trial Lawyers.
Mike Streich has handled workplace injury cases for 13 years. He graduated cum laude from the Houston Law Center and is active in the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Before moving to the plaintiff side, Mike spent close to a decade defending corporations and insurance syndicates, including members of Lloyd’s of London, in catastrophic injury and death claims tied to pipeline, refinery, offshore, and commercial vehicle operations. That defense background influences how he builds a workplace case today, because he has already seen how employers and their insurers investigate, evaluate, and defend these matters.
Results That Matter to Working Families
Our attorneys have recovered over $375 million for clients across Texas. Those outcomes include an $11 million mid-trial settlement for the family of a worker killed when a crane outrigger fell on him at the Port of Freeport, a $7.75 million mid-trial settlement for a worker who lost part of his leg in an industrial incident, and a $6.75 million settlement for a worker burned at a Florida chemical plant when the plant’s electronic systems malfunctioned.
Contingency Fee Representation
Workers dealing with lost wages and mounting medical bills do not need another bill on the kitchen table. Our firm advances investigation costs, accident reconstruction, and case workup, and our attorney fees come out of the recovery only when we win.
Client Feedback
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I was injured in an accident & Mike was exceptional from start to finish. He let me know the process and provided follow ups anytime there was an update in my injury case. I felt like he had a grasp of my personal situation and it was clear he definitely had my back. I would highly recommend him to anyone who wants the real.”
Jonathan Louis
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Types of Workplace Injury Cases We Handle in Baytown
Baytown sits at the center of some of the most hazardous work in the country, from the petrochemical corridor along the Houston Ship Channel to the ports, industrial yards, and construction projects that supply them. Our firm handles the highest-stakes side of that work, where a worker has been killed, disabled, or seriously injured on the job.
- Refinery accidents. Turnarounds, maintenance shutdowns, and routine operations at refineries carry fire, explosion, and toxic release risks.
- Construction accidents. Workers fall from scaffolds, are struck by loads, and are hurt by unsafe equipment every day in and around Baytown. Defendants in construction accident cases are typically general contractors or subcontractors.
- Oilfield accidents. Rig collapses, pipe drops, and blowout incidents produce catastrophic harm. We handle both drilling and service-side oilfield accident cases.
- Industrial burns and chemical exposure. Workers are burned by flash fires, caustic spills, and steam releases. We pursue these severe burn injury cases against employers and third-party contractors.
- Traumatic brain injuries. Falls, struck-by incidents, and crush events often produce head and brain trauma that can alter a worker’s capacity for the rest of their life.
- Heavy machinery and equipment accidents. Forklifts, cranes, backhoes, and conveyor systems injure workers when operators are untrained, when maintenance is skipped, or when safety guards are removed. Many of these cases involve both employer negligence and claims against equipment manufacturers.
- Commercial vehicle crashes at work. When a worker is injured in a company vehicle or hit by a commercial rig on the job, a truck accident claim can run in parallel with the work-injury claim.
- Fatal workplace incidents. When a loved one dies on the job, surviving family members may pursue wrongful death claims under Texas law against the employer, a contractor, or a third party.
Texas Legal Requirements for Workplace Injury Claims
Texas workplace injury cases are shaped by several statutes and regulations that every injured worker should understand before signing a release or giving a recorded statement.
Workers’ compensation and non-subscribers. Texas is the only state where most private employers may opt out of carrying workers’ compensation insurance. If your employer is a non-subscriber, you generally have the right to sue the company directly for ordinary negligence, without the caps that workers’ comp imposes, and the employer loses most of the usual common law defenses. If your employer is a subscriber, workers’ compensation benefits may be the exclusive remedy against the employer itself, but you may still have a separate claim against a contractor, property owner, equipment manufacturer, or other responsible third party.
Statute of limitations. Under Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, most personal injury and wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of the date of the incident or the date of death. Evidence on a worksite moves fast, which is why the steps taken after a serious accident often shape whether a case is viable.
Modified comparative negligence. Outside the workers’ compensation system, Texas uses a 51 percent bar rule under CPRC Chapter 33. If a jury assigns a worker more than 50 percent of the fault, the worker recovers nothing. At 50 percent or less, the recovery is reduced by the worker’s share of fault. Defense lawyers routinely try to shift blame onto the injured worker, usually by pointing to training records, PPE use, or adherence to company rules. We meet those arguments with physical evidence, witness testimony, and, where appropriate, reconstruction.
OSHA standards. Most Baytown employers must comply with federal OSHA standards that govern fall protection, machine guarding, hazardous energy control, chemical safety, and many other areas. Violations of OSHA rules are powerful evidence of negligence in Texas courts, even though OSHA itself is not the forum that decides civil liability. Recent Texas legal changes also affect how some of these claims are tried and valued today.
What Damages Are Recoverable in a Baytown Workplace Injury Case?
Texas law permits injured workers, and the families of those killed on the job, to pursue three broad categories of damages in a non-subscriber or third-party claim. The precise mix depends on the severity of the injury and the conduct of the defendant.
Economic damages. These are the measurable, documented losses. They include past and future medical bills, physical therapy, rehabilitation, prescription costs, assistive devices, home and vehicle modifications, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, and funeral and burial costs in fatal cases. For workers with long-term injuries, we typically retain life care planners and vocational economists to project future costs accurately. A shoulder injury that ends a pipefitter’s career has a very different economic value than the same injury to a desk worker. According to BLS injury data, private employers report millions of nonfatal workplace injuries each year, and a substantial share require days away from work.
Non-economic damages. Texas law permits recovery for physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life. In fatal cases, surviving spouses, children, and parents may recover for loss of companionship, consortium, and household services under Texas’s wrongful death and survival statutes. These damages are often the largest component of a serious workplace case involving a brain injury, amputation, paralysis, or severe burns.
Exemplary (punitive) damages. Under CPRC Chapter 41, a jury may award exemplary damages when the evidence shows gross negligence, fraud, or malice by clear and convincing evidence. On a worksite, gross negligence often looks like a known hazard that supervisors documented and ignored, a rushed job that bypassed lockout-tagout, or an untrained worker sent to do work that required certification. The OSHA worker rights page lays out what was supposed to happen before the incident, which can help frame the negligence analysis.
If your injury involved an oilfield incident or a maritime accident, additional regulations and sources of coverage may apply.
Contact Greenberg Streich, PLLC
A serious workplace injury can upend a career, a household, and long-term financial security all at once. You deserve a firm that treats the case with the seriousness it requires. Our Baytown workplace injury lawyer will review what happened, identify the responsible parties and available coverage, and give you a candid read on whether filing a lawsuit is the right next step.
Consultations at Greenberg Streich, PLLC are free. No attorney fee unless we recover money for you. We respond to calls and form submissions promptly, and we can meet in person, by phone, or by video depending on what works for you.
Contact us today to speak with a workplace injury lawyer about what happened and what comes next.
