When workers are killed on the job in Texas and their employer is partly responsible for the accident, the families of the deceased workers can often bring a wrongful death lawsuit to recover damages from the employer. These damages are intended to help the family financially with costs they have incurred because of the accident and with wages that have been lost. Sometimes, the family is also awarded damages for pain and suffering as well.

Such is the case for the wife and children of a Beaumont, Texas, worker, who died tragically while working as a contractor at an oil refinery owned by Motiva Enterprises. It is believed that the worker suffered a heart attack and fell into a hold filled with mud and water in November of 2009. Because there was no one around at the time of the accident, the worker suffocated.

The wrongful death lawsuit was brought against Motiva and Bo-Mac Contractors by the family members in June of 2010 and alleged that even though safety policy "required a worker be with Plaintiff while he worked in the hole, none were around," court papers said.

According to the court papers, "[the worker] fell face down in the hole where there was an accumulation of water. When [he] was found, CPR was done on him, but he later died. Mud and water was found in [his] throat and lungs, indicating he was alive and ingesting the muddy water while he attempted to breath."

The family argues that had Motiva followed policy and not left the worker alone in the hole, the worker would likely be alive today.

The case was again in Southeast Texas Record news last week because the worker's widow recently filed a certificate of written discovery in the case, proving that she served the defendants with her first supplemental responses to their requests for disclosure.

As you can see, wrongful death cases can take a long time to resolve and there are many steps involved. But the important thing is that in the end the families of the workers killed are awarded the damages that they are entitled to.

Source: The Southeast Texas Record, "Certificate of discovery filed in wrongful death suit against Motiva," David Yates, 6/15/2011.