Family of Fatally-Injured Offshore Worker Wins $27 Million Verdict

A Louisiana jury has awarded more than $27 million to the family of an offshore worker who was fatally injured in a 2018 workplace accident on an oil and gas production platform operated by Talos ERT, LLC in the Gulf of Mexico.

At trial, lawyers for Walter Jackson’s family argued that the company authorized unsafe work for the contractors. Talos insisted that Jackson and his coworkers use their own rope to move heavy pipe over the contractors’ objections and requests for more suitable equipment. The rope failed, causing a section of the pipe to fall, striking Jackson and causing fatal injuries.

Jackson’s family was represented by attorney Kyle Findley of the law firm Arnold & Itkin.

“Talos was clearly at fault in planning and authorizing every aspect of the job, and they want to blame Walter’s coworkers for performing the job Talos wanted done,” stated Findley. “When companies cut corners with safety and workers get hurt, juries are willing to hold them accountable for the pain and loss families suffer.”

Arnold & Itkin has a successful track record of representing offshore workers and mariners who have been injured or killed in the course of their work. The firm has represented the widows of mariners lost in the sinking of El Faro and crew members of Deepwater Horizon.

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