Were you injured on the job in Brownsville, TX?
At Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers, we help injured employees across Brownsville understand their rights after a serious workplace incident.
If you were hurt on the job in Texas, the first question is whether your employer carries workers’ compensation, because Texas is the only state that lets private employers opt out. An attorney can determine that coverage status and whether a negligence claim is available instead of a benefits claim.
Our Brownsville, TX workplace injury lawyer represents employees hurt at the port, on construction sites, and in the warehouses and plants across Cameron County. Each of our attorneys has handled catastrophic workplace claims for more than a decade. Request a case review from Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers at no cost.
Workplace Injury Lawyer Brownsville, TX
A workplace injury lawyer determines which system governs the injury and then builds the claim that system allows. If the employer subscribes to workers’ compensation, benefits are available without proving fault, but the employer generally cannot be sued. If the employer is a non-subscriber, no benefits exist and the path forward is a negligence lawsuit against the company itself. A third possibility runs alongside both: a claim against a contractor, property owner, or equipment maker who is not your employer at all.
Roughly a quarter of Texas private-sector employers carried no workers’ compensation coverage as of 2024, according to the Division of Workers’ Compensation. Construction and extraction work makes up 1.9 percent of Brownsville-area employment and production occupations another 3.6 percent, per BLS employment data. Those shares understate local exposure, since terminals, recycling yards, and LNG construction rely on contract crews whom the survey counts under their staffing agency rather than the site where they work.
Types of Workplace Injury Cases We Handle in Brownsville
The industry a worker was in usually determines which body of law applies and which companies can be held responsible. These are the settings that produce most of the serious claims in this area.
- Construction site injuries. General contractors, subcontractors, and property owners each hold different duties, and the contracts between them frequently decide who answers for a fall or a collapse.
- Falls from height. Scaffolding, ladders, roofs, and unguarded floor openings are among the most common sources of fatal construction injuries, and most of these cases involve fall protection that was either absent or unused.
- Crush injuries. Unguarded machinery, failed lockout procedures, and shifting loads produce amputations and degloving injuries that end careers immediately.
- Forklift injuries. Warehouse and dock operations put pedestrians and powered equipment in the same aisles, often with blind corners and inadequate spotting.
- Refinery accidents. Terminal and tank farm work involves pressurized systems and hydrocarbons, and the operator, the contractor, and the equipment supplier can all bear responsibility.
- Explosion accidents. Blast injuries rarely stop at the point of failure, and workers well removed from the source suffer hearing loss, burns, and head trauma.
- Maritime injuries. Dockworkers, riggers, and shipyard employees fall under federal law, which changes deadlines and available damages compared with a land-based claim.
- Jones Act claims. Vessel crew who meet the seaman definition can sue the employer directly for negligence, a remedy no land-based worker has.
- Car accidents. A collision during a delivery, a service call, or a drive between job sites is a workplace injury, and it usually supports a claim against the other driver as well. A driver pressured to operate a vehicle he has already flagged occupies a different position than an ordinary employee, because the law protects workers who report unsafe trucks.
- Fatal workplace incidents. Families face a company that began its own investigation within hours and controls the scene, the witnesses, and the paperwork.
Why Choose Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers as my Workplace Injury Lawyer in Brownsville, TX?
Experience With Both Non-Subscriber and Third-Party Claims
Mike Streich obtained a $5,900,000 recovery for a worker injured in a construction accident, and he spent close to ten years before that assessing exposure in catastrophic injury and death claims for corporate defendants and Lloyd’s of London syndicate members. Super Lawyers has repeatedly selected him as a Texas Rising Star, beginning in 2014. Matt Greenberg has built his practice around oilfield explosions, plant accidents, and chemical releases, has tried these matters in county, state, and federal courts, and belongs to the American Association for Justice.
What Our Attorneys Have Recovered for Injured Workers
Our attorneys have recovered more than $300 million across serious injury and death matters. Workplace and industrial results include:
- $5,900,000 for a worker injured in a construction accident
- $4,000,000 in a workplace injury claim
- $3,575,000 following an oilfield injury
- $1,865,000 in a separate oilfield matter
- $1,500,000 in a workplace injury claim
Cases against employers and their contractors are defended differently than ordinary injury claims, and the companies involved usually have counsel engaged before the injured worker has spoken with a personal injury lawyer in Brownsville, TX. That’s why it’s important to speak with an attorney as soon as you can after a workplace accident.
Understanding Workplace Injury Cases
Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Workplace Injury Cases
Texas penalizes employers that opt out of the system. Under Section 406.033 of the Labor Code, a non-subscribing employer cannot argue that the worker was contributorily negligent, that the worker assumed the risk of a dangerous job, or that a coworker rather than the company caused the harm. The worker still has to prove the employer was negligent, but three of the defense’s usual arguments are gone before the case starts.
That protection does not extend to claims against anyone else. A suit against a contractor, a premises owner, or a manufacturer runs under ordinary proportionate responsibility rules, where your own share of fault reduces the award and bars it above fifty percent.
Available compensation generally covers:
- Medical treatment already received and care the injury will require going forward
- Lost earnings and the reduction in what you can earn after recovery
- Physical pain, mental anguish, and permanent impairment
- Disfigurement, including surgical scarring
- Losses to a spouse, children, or parents when a worker is killed
What Are Important Aspects of a Workplace Injury Case?
The employer writes the first account of what happened, and that document tends to follow the case for years afterward. Putting your own written version down in the same week is one of the more useful steps for injured workers.
- Whether your employer subscribes, which shapes every strategic decision that follows
- Staffing agency and contractor agreements, which establish who controlled your work
- Safety meeting records, training files, and equipment inspection logs
- Prior complaints or near misses involving the same hazard
- The identity of every company that had people on that site
What Is The Workplace Injury Case Timeline?
Non-subscriber suits and third-party claims both move on litigation schedules rather than administrative ones, which means they take longer than a benefits claim but can produce far more. A two-year deadline applies from the date of injury, and it runs whether or not an employer’s internal process is still open.
- Written notice to the employer and preservation of the scene and equipment
- Confirmation of subscriber status and identification of every contractor involved
- Treatment through to a physician’s opinion on permanent restrictions
- Filing, then discovery of safety records and depositions of supervisors
- Vocational and life care analysis where the injury ends a trade career
- Mediation, and a request for a trial date if the case does not resolve there
What Should You Bring to Your Workplace Injury Consultation?
Employment paperwork tells us more at the outset than medical records do, because it establishes who you worked for and who controlled the site:
- Your offer letter, contract, or staffing agency assignment sheet
- Recent pay stubs showing base rate, overtime, and per diem
- The incident report, if the company gave you a copy
- Photographs of the equipment, the area, or your protective gear
- Any letter about benefits, light duty, or termination since the injury
We will identify which claims are available, what each is likely to require, and whether more than one company belongs in the case.
Most Dangerous Locations for Workplace Injuries in Brownsville, TX
Injury exposure here follows the industrial footprint rather than any particular street.
Port and terminal facilities:
- Bulk cargo and grain handling docks. Conveyor systems, dust accumulation, and confined storage structures.
- Wind energy component staging yards. Oversized blade and nacelle handling with heavy lifts and unusual rigging.
- Steel transshipment yards. Coil and plate handling where a shifted load has no safe direction to fall.
- Rail yards serving the port. Switching operations with limited clearance between equipment and structures.
- Warehouse and distribution facilities. Forklift traffic, elevated racking, and loading dock falls.
Work sites away from the waterfront:
- Boca Chica corridor construction. Large-scale build-out east of the city with heavy equipment and constant crew turnover.
- Agricultural processing and cold storage. Machinery hazards combined with ammonia refrigeration systems.
- Highway and utility construction zones. Workers on foot near live traffic and open excavations.
- Residential and commercial roofing. Steep pitches and minimal anchorage, frequently worked by small crews without a safety supervisor.
Reach Out to Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers to Schedule a Consultation
We do not charge for the initial review, and our fee comes out of the recovery rather than anything paid along the way. We will tell you whether your employer subscribes, which claims your facts support, and what recovery on those claims tends to look like. Our Brownsville workplace injury attorney can come to you if travel is difficult after an injury. Contact us to set up a time to meet.
