Texas Supreme Court Considers Intentional Act Requirements in Work Related Fatal Accident

In case anybody had wondered how dangerous things have gotten in the oil fields of Texas, the Texas Supreme Court is now being asked to consider whether an exception carved out for intentional acts applies to the death of an employee in the oil field regarding a work related injury. Essentially the claim is that the conditions giving rise to the death of a trucker were so egregious that the failure on the part of the employer constitutes an intentional act. Based upon prior case rulings from a few years ago, I am skeptical that the Texas spring court will allow this to proceed. The Texas Supreme Court in a similar case involving a construction accident found that the Injury was not intentional when the employer was involved in creating a hazard so dangerous that is essentially knew the circumstances giving rise to the injury were reasonably likely to occur but the injury ended up occurring outside of a certain radius from the dangerous area and in a particular way that the court ruled was not for seeable. So I have my doubts that the court will allow this sort of thing to be expanded. But it’s important to recognize the Texas lawyers are in the forefront of pushing employers to be accountable injury was not intentional when the employer was involved in creating a hazard so dangerous that it essentially knew the circumstances giving rise to the injury were reasonably likely to occur but the injury ended up occurring outside of a certain radius from the dangerous area and in a particular way that the court ruled was not for seeable. So I have my doubts that the court will allow this sort of thing to be expanded. But it’s important to recognize the Texas lawyers are in the forefront of pushing employers to be accountable forSafety violations that result in serious injuries or death.