Greenberg Streich Files Suit Against Chevron, Forum Energy Technologies, Patterson-UTI, and Ally Following Fatal Oilfield Catwalk Incident
Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family of an oilfield worker killed when a hydraulic catwalk activated without warning at a Chevron-operated drilling site near Jal, New Mexico, on May 16, 2026. The lawsuit, filed in Harris County, Texas, names Chevron Corporation, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Forum Energy Technologies, Inc., Patterson-UTI Drilling Company, LLC, and Ally Consulting, LLC. The petition alleges the catwalk was defectively designed and manufactured, that Chevron and its on-site consulting supervisor failed to maintain a safe worksite, and that Patterson-UTI’s gross negligence and intentional conduct contributed to the worker’s death. The worker left behind a spouse and four minor children.
What Happened at the Drilling Site Near Jal, New Mexico
According to the lawsuit, the worker died at a Chevron drilling site in or around Jal, New Mexico, on May 16, 2026. His employer, Patterson-UTI Drilling Company, operated the rig. The petition alleges a hydraulic catwalk manufactured by Forum Energy Technologies activated without warning, crushing the worker.
Jal sits in Lea County in the southeastern corner of New Mexico, directly on the Texas border, deep inside the Permian Basin’s Delaware subbasin. Chevron is among the most active operators in the New Mexico Permian Basin, reporting production of approximately one million barrels of oil equivalent per day from the broader Permian region as of mid-2025.
Who Was Sued and Why
The lawsuit names four defendants, each on a distinct legal theory.
Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A. Inc.: Negligence
As the site operator, Chevron bore a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of workers on its property. The petition alleges Chevron breached that duty in multiple ways: failing to perform drilling operations safely, providing unsafe equipment, rushing operations in a manner that caused workers to cut corners on safety, failing to train and supervise personnel, and failing to manage simultaneous operations on the rig. The petition also alleges Chevron created a dangerous condition through the negligent placement of the hydraulic catwalk and failed to warn workers of hazards it knew or should have known existed.
Ally Consulting, LLC: Negligence
Ally Consulting is an oilfield consulting firm that provides drilling supervisors and on-site supervisory personnel to oil and gas operations. The petition alleges that Ally placed a superintendent on location at the Chevron drilling site at the time of the worker’s death. That supervisory role carries its own duty of care. The petition holds Ally jointly liable with Chevron for the same negligence failures, including the failure to perform drilling operations safely, failure to maintain safe equipment, failure to train and supervise contractors, and failure to manage simultaneous operations. Ally is also named in the respondeat superior, wrongful death, and survival claims alongside Chevron and FET.
Forum Energy Technologies, Inc.: Strict Product Liability
Forum Energy Technologies (FET) is a Houston-based manufacturer of oilfield equipment, including hydraulic catwalks and pipe-handling systems. The lawsuit pursues two separate product liability claims against FET.
The first is a design defect claim. Strict product liability for design defect holds a manufacturer responsible when a product’s design makes it unreasonably dangerous, even if manufacturing followed the design exactly. The petition alleges a safer alternative design existed, that it was economically and technologically feasible, and that it would have prevented the worker’s death without impairing the catwalk’s usefulness.
The second is a manufacturing defect claim. A manufacturing defect occurs when a specific unit deviates from the manufacturer’s own specifications and intended performance standards. The petition alleges the catwalk at issue deviated from FET’s own design, making it unreasonably dangerous in the hands of ordinary users.
Both claims rest on the core allegation that the catwalk activated without warning after contact with a pedestal, and that no substantial alteration occurred after the equipment left FET’s control.
Patterson-UTI Drilling Company, LLC: Gross Negligence and Intentional Conduct
Patterson-UTI’s legal exposure runs on different ground. Because Patterson-UTI is alleged to be a workers’ compensation subscriber, Texas law bars ordinary negligence claims by the worker’s estate against the employer through the exclusive remedy rule. However, Texas Labor Code Section 408.001(b) preserves a critical path for families: the exclusive remedy does not bar a surviving spouse or the heirs of a deceased employee from recovering exemplary damages when the employer’s gross negligence caused the death.
Gross negligence requires showing that the employer’s conduct involved an extreme degree of risk, that the employer had actual, subjective awareness of that risk, and that the employer proceeded with conscious indifference to the worker’s safety. The petition alleges Patterson-UTI meets all three elements.
Hydraulic Catwalks on Drilling Rigs: A Known Source of Serious Injury
Hydraulic catwalks are mechanized systems that move drill pipe from the ground to the rig floor, reducing the need for workers to manually handle heavy tubulars. Their development was a genuine safety advance, designed to cut down on struck-by hazards and physical strain from manual pipe handling. Research shows that injury rates on rigs using mechanized equipment like hydraulic catwalks were significantly lower than rates on older rigs without them.
Even so, hydraulic catwalks carry serious hazards of their own. When they malfunction, activate unexpectedly, or operate without proper safeguards, they can deliver thousands of pounds of force in an instant. A worker caught in the path of an activating catwalk has no time to react. OSHA has investigated multiple incidents involving workers crushed by catwalk equipment, caught between moving components, or struck by loads during rig operations. In several of those investigations, OSHA found that the companies involved failed to keep workers clear of the equipment or failed to inspect and maintain load-bearing components.
The petition’s central allegation here describes exactly the kind of unplanned activation that proper safety interlocks and robust equipment design should prevent. An object contacts a control panel. The catwalk activates without warning. A worker in proximity has no opportunity to move. Whether the failure was in FET’s design, in the specific unit’s manufacture, in Chevron’s site management, in Ally’s on-site supervision, or in some combination is a question the litigation will resolve.
Crush Injuries in West Texas and the New Mexico Oilfields
The site where this accident occurred sits inside one of the most dangerous oilfield corridors in the United States. According to CDC data, nearly 40 percent of all oilfield fatalities in the country occur in the Permian Basin. Jal, New Mexico, is within the Delaware Basin portion of the Permian and lies less than an hour’s drive from Odessa, the regional hub of West Texas drilling activity.
Oilfield workers face a fatality rate roughly seven times higher than the national average across all occupations. Texas led the country in oilfield worker deaths in 2024 with at least 12 confirmed fatalities, a 57 percent increase over 2023. From December 2024 through June 2025, five more oilfield workers died within an hour of Odessa alone.
Struck-by and caught-between accidents, the category that covers crush injuries from moving equipment like hydraulic catwalks, remain among the leading causes of oilfield fatalities in both Texas and New Mexico. The pattern is consistent across incidents: mechanized equipment, workers operating in close proximity, rushed operations, and inadequate safeguards combine to produce catastrophic results in seconds. When the equipment itself carries a defect that makes unexpected activation possible, the hazard multiplies.
Patterson-UTI, the drilling contractor named in this case, has a documented safety history in federal records. OSHA investigated eleven accidents involving the company over a recent multi-year period and found violations in ten of them, according to federal reporting. The company previously settled wrongful-death claims arising from a 2018 rig explosion in Oklahoma that killed five workers.
What This Means If You Were Hurt in a Similar Oilfield Accident
Several legal realities shape what happens after an oilfield worker is killed or seriously injured at a Permian Basin site, whether in Texas or New Mexico.
Multiple defendants are almost always available. Oilfield injury and wrongful death cases routinely involve a site operator, a drilling contractor, and an equipment manufacturer. Each occupies a distinct role. Each can carry separate legal liability. Identifying every responsible party early is essential because leaving one out can mean leaving significant compensation on the table.
On-site supervisors and consulting firms are fair defendants. Ally Consulting’s inclusion in this lawsuit reflects an important principle. When a consulting firm places supervisory personnel on a worksite, those supervisors carry duties of care that can flow back to the firm. Companies that provide drilling superintendents, completion supervisors, or any on-site supervisory role can face negligence liability when their personnel fail to maintain safe conditions.
Equipment manufacturers face strict liability. A design or manufacturing defect claim against a company like Forum Energy Technologies does not require proving the company acted carelessly. Strict product liability means the defect itself determines liability. The central questions are whether a safer design existed, whether the specific unit deviated from the manufacturer’s specs, and whether the defect caused the injury.
Workers’ compensation does not end the case. When an employer subscribes to workers’ comp, injured employees cannot bring ordinary negligence claims against that employer. However, workers and their families retain full claims against the site owner, equipment manufacturers, and other third parties. And surviving family members can still pursue exemplary damages against a subscribing employer when gross negligence caused the death.
Evidence on drilling rigs disappears fast. Active worksites are not accident scenes waiting for investigation. Equipment gets repaired, replaced, or moved within days. Witnesses rotate off crews. Site operators and insurers send representatives to the scene before families even know what happened. Protecting a claim requires immediate action:
- Preserve the failed or defective equipment before it is repaired or removed from service
- Photograph and document the scene, including the position of all equipment
- Secure all incident reports, job safety analyses, and OSHA filings
- Identify every contractor, subcontractor, and company representative present on the site
- Consult an attorney before giving any recorded statement to an employer, insurer, or site operator
The statute of limitations in Texas is two years and three years in New Mexico. Wrongful death and personal injury claims arising under Texas law must be filed within two years of the date of the incident and those arising in New Mexico must be filed within three years. Evidence deteriorates and witnesses become harder to locate over time. Contacting an attorney as soon as possible after an accident preserves options that waiting forecloses.
Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers represent oilfield injury and wrongful death victims throughout Texas and in cases connected to Texas-based defendants. The firm’s attorneys have years of experience litigating against oilfield companies in catastrophic injury litigation, which means they know exactly how operators like Chevron, contractors like Patterson-UTI, and equipment manufacturers like Forum Energy Technologies evaluate, document, and defend these claims. The lawyers at Greenberg Streich have won significant compensation for oilfield injury victims, including a $20 million result in an oilfield burn injury case. If a family member was killed or seriously injured at a drilling site in Texas or New Mexico, call 832-583-3471 or contact us. Consultations are free and confidential. No fee unless the firm wins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the family of an oilfield worker sue the site operator for his death? Yes. Site operators like Chevron owe a duty of reasonable care to workers on their property. Negligent site management, unsafe equipment placement, and failure to warn of known hazards can all support wrongful death claims against an operator.
Can the family still sue if the worker’s employer carried workers’ compensation? Yes. Workers’ comp bars ordinary negligence claims against the subscribing employer. But it does not bar claims against third parties like site operators and equipment manufacturers. And Texas Labor Code Section 408.001(b) allows a surviving spouse and heirs to pursue exemplary damages against the employer for gross negligence.
What is strict product liability in an oilfield equipment case? Strict product liability holds a manufacturer responsible for injuries caused by a defective product, regardless of whether the company was careless. The plaintiff must show a design or manufacturing defect existed and caused the injury. A safer feasible design, or a unit that deviated from the manufacturer’s own specs, can establish either claim.
What is a hydraulic catwalk and how can it injure or kill workers? A hydraulic catwalk moves drill pipe mechanically from the ground to the rig floor. When the equipment malfunctions, activates unexpectedly, or is placed near workers without proper safeguards, it can deliver sudden and overwhelming force, causing crush injuries, amputations, and fatalities.
What evidence matters most in an oilfield wrongful death case? The failed or defective equipment itself is often the most important piece of evidence. Incident reports, job safety analyses, maintenance logs, the manufacturer’s design specifications, and OSHA inspection and citation records all play a role. Evidence on active drilling sites disappears quickly. Preserving it requires fast action.
Do oilfield accidents in New Mexico follow Texas law? Not automatically. New Mexico has its own workers’ compensation and personal injury statutes. However, when Texas-based defendants like Chevron, FET, and Patterson-UTI are involved, Texas courts can exercise jurisdiction and Texas law may govern. Counsel with experience in both states should evaluate each case.
Families of Oilfield Workers Killed in the Permian Basin: Know Your Rights
If a family member was killed or seriously injured at a drilling site in West Texas or New Mexico, Greenberg Streich Injury Lawyers is ready to evaluate the claim. The firm handles wrongful death and serious injury cases against oilfield operators, drilling contractors, and equipment manufacturers. Call 832-583-3471 or visit our oilfield injury page for more information. Consultations are free, confidential, and available immediately. No fee unless the firm wins.
The allegations described in this post come from the petition filed with the court. They are allegations, not findings of fact. A Texas court will decide the merits of the case.
