The Oklahoma Supreme Court determined that oil and natural gas companies can be sued if a worker is killed or injured on the job, striking down a workers’ compensation law which used to exempt these companies from such lawsuits. The ruling comes just after an explosion at a drilling rig killed five workers in Oklahoma, but this decision was based off a case stemming from an incident in 2014 where a worker was killed after being severely burned.

The family of David Chambers Sr. filed a lawsuit against Stephens Production Co. after he was burned at a site in Crescent, OK in 2014 and did not survive. Stephens Production Co. operated the well site. The family sought damages and alleged that the company negligently operated the well, failing to warn Mr. Chambers of the dangers at the site. Stephens Production filed a motion to dismiss this suit. There was a law that was enacted in 2013 which protected oil well operators from lawsuits like this, part of a series of laws that were enacted to try and block “frivolous lawsuits”, and to reduce malpractice and liability insurance costs for businesses and doctors.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled 8-0, with one recusal, that the laws were unconstitutional and were designed to give special treatment to the oil and gas industry with no valid reason. The lawsuit was sent to the district court for additional arguments.

There were 15 workers killed in Oklahoma in 2014 who were working in the oil and gas industry. According to statistics from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 823 workers were killed between 2003 and 2010 in these industries, earning a fatality rate seven times higher than the rate across all industries in the United States.

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