Suit filed by off-duty injured drilling workers barred
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A Texas appeals court on Wednesday denied employer negligence in a personal injury case involving four workers in a single-vehicle accident, finding that four plaintiffs were not on duty at the time of the accident.
At the time of the wreck, one employee of Ringo Drilling I LP and Ringo Management Company LLC was transporting three co-workers from a convenience store to Ringo’s drilling rig site in Throckmorton County, Texas. The workers later filed a suit against the driver and the employer, alleging that the accident was caused by the driver’s negligence, and that Ringo was “directly liable for the negligent hiring, training, and retention” of the driver, according to documents in Wheeler v. Free, filed in the Court of Appeals of Texas, Eleventh District in Eastland, Texas.
Ringo moved for a summary judgment, stating it was a subscriber to workers compensation insurance at the time of the accident and thus barred from being sued on the grounds of exclusive remedy under Texas law. The trial court ruled in favor of Ringo, but it did not specify the grounds for its decision, according to the ruling.
The appeals court affirmed, writing that whether the employees “are subject to the Act's exclusive remedy provision is dependent on the manner in which (state workers comp law) defines course and scope of employment” and that the workers were not at work at the time of the accident.
“Ringo's management did not know that (the driver) would be driving any crew members in his personal vehicle at the time of the accident. Thus, (the) alleged act of negligence was not related to his job, and Ringo had no control over… conduct at the time of the accident.”
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