Offshore Injury Lawyer Pasadena, TX
If you’ve been hurt working on a platform, drilling rig, or vessel in the Gulf of Mexico, you already know the situation is more complicated than a typical workplace accident. Federal maritime laws apply instead of state workers’ comp. Your employer’s insurance team is already building a file. And the medical bills are piling up while you try to figure out who’s responsible and what your rights actually are.
Greenberg Streich, PLLC represents offshore workers throughout the Pasadena, TX area who’ve been seriously injured on the job. Our founding attorneys, Matt Greenberg and Mike Streich, have more than 25 years of combined trial experience handling maritime injury claims, oilfield disasters, and industrial accidents across Texas. Our offshore injury lawyer in Pasadena, TX fights to make sure injured workers and their families get the compensation they’re owednot whatever an insurance adjuster decides to offer first.
Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
Why Choose Greenberg Streich for Offshore Injury Cases in Pasadena, TX?
Insider Knowledge of How Offshore Companies Defend Claims
Mike Streich spent nearly a decade on the other side before switching to plaintiff work. He represented corporations and Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicates in catastrophic offshore injury and wrongful death cases. He worked at one of the oldest maritime injury law firms in Texas, Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williamsand at Phelps Dunbar, one of the largest maritime firms in Louisiana, where he represented vessel owners and offshore companies directly.
That background matters. Mike knows how offshore employers investigate incidents in the hours after they happen because he used to be the one conducting those investigations. He’s interviewed crew members on rigs, collected evidence from vessels, and worked directly with federal agencies on maritime matters. He also spent a year as in-house counsel for an offshore construction company, handling every aspect of their legal operations, including injury claims. When your employer brings in their defense team, we already know the playbook.
Proven Track Record of Results for Injured Workers
Matt Greenberg has spent 12 years as lead trial counsel in cases that resulted in record-setting verdicts and settlements across Texas, including the largest recorded personal injury settlement in Tarrant County and the largest recorded personal injury verdict in Montgomery County.
Together, our attorneys have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients. Specific results relevant to offshore and maritime workers include a $16 million settlement for a Jones Act seaman who suffered head and neck injuries working offshore, a $20 million settlement for a burned oilfield worker in West Texas, and a $12.7 million settlement in a multi-party rig collapse case. Both Matt and Mike have been recognized by Super Lawyers for their work in personal injury and transportation/maritime law. Mike has been named a Texas Rising Star every year since 2017. Matt has been recognized by Lawdragon and the National Trial Lawyers, among other organizations.
Contingency Fee No Upfront Cost to You
We handle offshore injury cases on a contingency fee basis. That means you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. No retainers. No hourly bills. We front the costs of investigation, discovery, and trial preparation because we believe in the cases we take.
A Firm Built for High-Stakes Maritime Litigation
Greenberg Streich was founded specifically to handle catastrophic injury cases. When you call, your case is handled by Matt Greenberg and Mike Streich personallynot passed to a junior associate or a case manager. Matt is a sixth-generation Texan, a graduate of Baylor Law School, and is licensed in Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona. Mike graduated cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center and is a member of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Mike Streich is an outstanding injury attorney, and I am deeply grateful for everything he has done for my family. He represented us in a wrongful death case after my children’s father was tragically killed due to a company’s negligence. It was the most painful and overwhelming time of our lives, and Mike handled our case with compassion, strength, and unwavering dedication.” Regina Brown
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Types of Offshore Injury Cases We Handle in Pasadena
Pasadena sits at the center of one of the most heavily industrialized corridors in the country. The Houston Ship Channel runs right through the area, and offshore workers living in Pasadena, TX commute daily to platforms, rigs, and vessels throughout the Gulf. Here are the types of offshore injury claims we handle:
- Platform accidents. Falls, equipment failures, crane incidents, and fires on fixed or floating platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. These cases often involve federal jurisdiction under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
- Drilling rig injuries. Blowouts, well kicks, pipe handling incidents, and machinery malfunctions on jackup rigs, semisubmersibles, and drillships. Many of these incidents stem from the same process safety failures that cause refinery disasters.
- Vessel and barge accidents. Collisions, allisions, capsizing, and deck injuries on supply boats, crew vessels, tugboats, and tank barges operating in and around the Ship Channel.
- Pipeline and diving injuries. Injuries sustained during underwater pipeline construction, inspection, or repairincluding decompression illness and equipment failure. These cases frequently involve workplace safety violations and negligent maintenance practices.
- Helicopter transport accidents. Crashes, hard landings, and incidents during crew transport flights between shore and offshore installations. Fatalities in these incidents may give rise to wrongful death claims.
- Chemical exposure and toxic releases. Hydrogen sulfide exposure, benzene contact, and other chemical injuries sustained on offshore platforms or vessels near Pasadena’s industrial corridor.
Texas and Federal Legal Requirements for Offshore Injury Claims
Offshore injury cases don’t follow normal personal injury rules. Depending on where you were and what you were doing when you got hurt, several different federal laws may apply. Understanding which ones govern your situation is critical because each comes with different rights, different deadlines, and different standards of proof.
The Jones Act (46 U.S.C. § 30104) applies to workers who qualify as “seamen,” generally, anyone who spends at least 30% of their working time contributing to the function of a vessel in navigation. Under the Jones Act, you can sue your employer directly for negligence, and the burden of proof is lower than in a standard negligence case. The employer’s negligence need only have played some parteven a small partin causing your injury. The statute of limitations is three years from the date of injury.
General maritime law provides the doctrine of unseaworthiness, which requires vessel owners to maintain a reasonably safe vessel. This is a separate claim from Jones Act negligence and can be brought at the same time. You are also entitled to maintenance and curea no-fault benefit that covers your daily living expenses and medical treatment until you reach maximum medical improvementregardless of who was at fault.
The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) covers maritime workers who don’t qualify as seamen, including longshoremen, harbor workers, and certain shipyard employees. Benefits under the LHWCA are administered through the U.S. Department of Labor and include medical care, wage replacement, and vocational rehabilitation.
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) extends certain state workers’ compensation laws to workers injured on fixed platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf. The OCSLA can also provide a path to additional recovery depending on the circumstances.
Missing a deadline under any of these laws can permanently bar your claim. Speak with an offshore injury attorney in Pasadena as soon as possible after an incident. Recent changes to Texas law can also affect how your case is handled.
What Damages Are Recoverable in Pasadena Offshore Injury Cases?
The damages available to you depend on which law applies to your case, but offshore workers who’ve been seriously injured can generally pursue three categories of compensation.
Economic damages cover the financial losses you can document with records and receipts. These include past and future medical expensessurgeries, hospital stays, rehabilitation, medications, and ongoing care. They also include lost wages from the time you’ve missed work, as well as loss of future earning capacity if your injuries prevent you from returning to offshore work or limit the kind of work you can do going forward. For offshore workers who earned $80,000 to $150,000 or more annually, this category alone can be substantial.
Non-economic damages compensate for losses that don’t come with a price tag. Pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, and physical impairment all fall here. If a traumatic brain injury changes your personality or ability to function, those losses are compensable. If burn injuries leave permanent scarring, that’s compensable too.
Punitive damages are available in limited circumstances under maritime law. The U.S. Fifth Circuit has held that punitive damages can be recovered in Jones Act cases where the employer’s conduct was willful and wantona knowing, reckless disregard for the safety of workers. These are not available in every case, but in situations involving flagrant safety violations or intentional concealment of dangerous conditions, they can significantly increase the value of a claim.
In wrongful death cases, surviving family members can pursue damages for loss of financial support, loss of companionship, funeral and burial expenses, and the conscious pain and suffering the deceased experienced before death.
What Steps Should I Take After an Offshore Injury in Pasadena, TX?
- Get medical attention immediately. Even if you feel like you can keep working, get evaluated. Some offshore injuriesespecially head injuries and internal damagedon’t present obvious symptoms right away.
- Report the injury to your supervisor. Federal regulations require incident reporting. Make sure your injury is formally documented in the vessel or platform log.
- Document everything you can. Photograph the scene, your injuries, any equipment involved, and the conditions that contributed to the accident. If a coworker saw what happened, get their name and contact information.
- Write down your account of what happened. Do this as soon as possible while the details are fresh. Include the time, location, what you were doing, what went wrong, and who was present.
- Do not give a recorded statement to your employer’s insurance company. You are not required to provide one, and anything you say can be used to minimize your claim.
- Request copies of incident reports. Your employer is required to file reports with BSEE and potentially the U.S. Coast Guard. These documents are important evidence.
- Keep all medical records and receipts. Track every doctor’s visit, prescription, therapy session, and out-of-pocket cost related to your injury.
- Do not sign anything from your employer without legal review. Some employers will try to get injured workers to sign releases or accept quick settlements before the full extent of their injuries is known.
- File for maintenance and cure. If you qualify as a seaman, your employer owes you these benefits regardless of fault. If they refuse or delay payment, that itself may give rise to additional claims.
- Contact an offshore injury attorney. The sooner a lawyer begins preserving evidence and investigating the incident, the stronger your claim will be. Evidence on rigs and vessels disappears quickly. Our practice areas page outlines the full range of cases we handle.
Offshore Injury Statistics in the Pasadena, TX Area
Pasadena’s position along the Houston Ship Channel places it at the geographic center of the nation’s offshore energy industry. The numbers tell a troubling story about the risks workers face every day.
According to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, more than 93% of all offshore incidents in the United States occur in the Gulf of Mexico region. Between 2012 and 2020, BSEE recorded 4,474 offshore incidents resulting in 1,654 injuries and 23 fatalities on the Outer Continental Shelf. And those numbers don’t capture everything. Injuries on foreign-flagged vessels, incidents during crew transport, and accidents that aren’t classified as work-related often fall outside BSEE’s reporting requirements.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 113 fatal occupational injuries in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector nationwide in 2023. Texas consistently leads all states in oil and gas worker fatalities. In 2023 alone, there were 564 fatal workplace injuries statewidea rate of 4.1 per 100,000 full-time employees, higher than the national rate of 3.5.
NIOSH research published through the CDC found that during a six-year study period, 470 oil and gas extraction worker fatalities were identified nationally. The most frequent causes were vehicle incidents (26.8%), contact injuries from equipment (21.7%), and explosions (14.5%). More than one in five of those workers was working alone at the time of the fatal incident.
A recent BSEE safety alert revealed that slips, trips, and falls accounted for 22% of all injuries reported between May 2024 and April 2025surpassing lifting-related injuries for the first time in recent years. These injuries were often severe, resulting in multiple days away from work.
The industrial corridor around Pasadena has its own grim history. The 1989 Phillips Petroleum explosion at a plant on Jefferson Road in Pasadena killed 23 workers and injured 314, making it one of the worst industrial disasters in Texas history. OSHA fined Phillips $5.6 million, and the incident led to sweeping reforms in process safety management nationwide.
Pasadena, TX Offshore Injury Lawyer FAQs
What Qualifies Me As A Seaman Under The Jones Act?
What Qualifies Me As A Seaman Under The Jones Act?You generally qualify if you contribute to the function of a vessel in navigation and spend at least 30% of your working time aboard that vessel or a fleet of vessels under common ownership. Roustabouts, deckhands, engineers, cooks, and drill crew who rotate onto vessels typically meet this threshold.
Can I Sue My Employer For An Offshore Injury?
If you qualify as a Jones Act seaman, yes. The Jones Act gives you the right to file a negligence lawsuit against your employer. This is different from standard workers’ compensation, which does not allow lawsuits against employers in most circumstances.
What Is Maintenance And Cure?
Maintenance is a daily living allowance. Cure covers your medical treatment costs. Your employer owes both of these benefits regardless of who was at fault for the injury. They continue until you reach maximum medical improvement.
How Long Do I Have To File An Offshore Injury Claim?
Three years from the date of injury for Jones Act claims. LHWCA claims have a one-year filing deadline for benefits with a two-year statute of limitations for related lawsuits. These deadlines are strict.
What If My Employer Pressures Me To Return To Work Early?
You are not obligated to return to work before you are medically cleared. If your employer retaliates against you for seeking medical treatment or filing a claim, that retaliation itself may be actionable.
Do I Need A Lawyer For An Offshore Injury Case?
Maritime law is a specialized area of federal law. The intersection of the Jones Act, general maritime law, the LHWCA, and OCSLA creates a web of legal issues that most personal injury attorneys don’t handle regularly. An offshore injury attorney in Pasadena, TX who understands these laws can make a significant difference in your recovery. You can learn more about why clients hire us on our website.
How Much Is My Offshore Injury Case Worth?
It depends on the severity of your injuries, the circumstances of the accident, your earning capacity, and which law applies. Cases involving serious burns, brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or wrongful death tend to carry the highest values.
Will My Case Go To Trial?
Most offshore injury cases settle before trial, but we prepare every case as though it will go to verdict. Matt Greenberg is the lead trial counsel who has tried cases across county, state, and federal courts. That preparation is what drives fair settlements. You can learn more about how we work on our FAQ page.
What If The Accident Was Partly My Fault?
Under the Jones Act, you can still recover damages even if you were partially at fault. Your compensation may be reduced by your percentage of responsibility, but it is not eliminated.
Can I File A Claim If A Coworker Caused My Injury?
Yes. Under the Jones Act, your employer is liable for the negligence of fellow crew members. You don’t need to sue the coworker individually; the claim is against the employer.
What If My Employer Doesn’t Have Workers’ Comp Insurance?
Most offshore employers are not covered by state workers’ compensation at all. Maritime workers are covered under federal maritime law instead, which often provides broader rights and larger recoveries than state workers’ comp would.
Can Family Members File A Claim If An Offshore Worker Dies?
Yes. Wrongful death claims are available under the Jones Act, the Death on the High Seas Act, and general maritime law, depending on where the death occurred. Our areas served page outlines the regions we cover.
What Evidence Should I Preserve After An Offshore Injury?
Photographs of the scene, medical records, incident reports, witness contact information, employment records, pay stubs, and communications with your employer. An offshore injury lawyer can also subpoena vessel logs, safety inspection records, and maintenance logs.
How Does Greenberg Streich Handle Offshore Injury Cases Differently?
Both of our founding attorneys have tried these cases. Mike’s decade of defense work gives us insight into how employers and insurers will respond to your claim. We handle every case personally and prepare it for trial from day one. Read what our past clients have said about working with us.
What If I Was Injured During Helicopter Transport To A Platform?
Helicopter crash cases involve both maritime law and aviation law. The legal framework depends on the specificswhere the crash occurred, the cause, and the parties involved. These cases can involve multiple defendants, including the helicopter operator, the platform operator, and the aircraft manufacturer. Families affected by these incidents can also explore our resources page for additional information.
Most Dangerous Locations For Offshore Workers Near Pasadena, TX
The concentration of industrial activity along the Houston Ship Channel creates a corridor of risk that’s unique in the United States. Offshore workers living in Pasadena regularly commute to job sites throughout this area and into the Gulf. Locations with particularly high incident histories include:
- The Houston Ship Channel from Morgan’s Point to the Turning Basin
- Galveston Bay and Galveston Channel vessel traffic areas
- Port of Houston docking and loading facilities
- Offshore platforms in the western and central Gulf of Mexico are accessible from Galveston and Port Fourchon
- Industrial facilities along the Pasadena and Deer Park stretch of Highway 225
- The Bayport Ship Channel and surrounding terminals
Important Local Resources for Offshore Workers in Pasadena
If you’ve been injured offshore and need immediate services in the Pasadena area, the following resources may be helpful. This is provided as a reference only. Greenberg Streich, PLLC does not endorse or guarantee the services of any organization listed below.
- HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast Level III Trauma Center, 4000 Spencer Highway, Pasadena, TX 77504
- St. Luke’s Health – Patients Medical Center 4600 East Sam Houston Parkway South, Pasadena, TX 77505
- U.S. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston For reporting maritime incidents
- OSHA Houston Area Office for workplace safety complaints and reports
- Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Gulf of Mexico Regional Office
- Texas Department of Insurance – Division of Workers’ Compensation For injury reporting and benefits questions
- Pasadena Police Department 1201 Davis Street, Pasadena, TX 77506
Contact Greenberg Streich, PLLC
If you or a family member was injured working offshore near Pasadena, Texas, we want to hear from you. Greenberg Streich offers free consultations for all offshore and maritime injury cases. We work on a contingency fee basis; you pay nothing unless we win. We also accept referrals from attorneys across the state who need lead trial counsel on maritime and offshore cases.
When you contact our firm, you speak directly with Matt or Mike. Not an intake specialist. Not a paralegal screening call. We review every potential case personally because that is how we determine whether we can helpand how we begin building the strongest possible claim from the start. Reach out today to discuss your situation.
