Lafayette Industrial & Plant Accident Lawyer

Around Lafayette, more than a third of the severe work injuries employers reported to OSHA for 2023 and 2024 involved an amputation. Employers in ZIP codes beginning with 705 filed 42 such reports, most from Lafayette, Broussard, New Iberia, Crowley and Ville Platte. Fifteen involved an amputation. Statewide, the share was 21.8%.

Food manufacturers led. They filed 9 of the 42 reports, and five of the 15 amputation reports came from the plants of one rice-processing employer.

At a food plant, chemical plant, refinery or fabrication yard, workers' comp covers your claim against your own employer. A claim against another company is separate. It can be against the plant owner, a contractor or the machine's maker, unless the law treats that company as your employer.

An earlier OSHA report from the area shows two companies at one plant. In August 2021, a worker for a refractory and insulation contractor at the Patout sugar mill near Jeanerette was on an extension ladder, guiding a pipe into a drum. The pipe knocked loose one already in the drum, and the worker jumped to avoid it, fracturing the left tibia and right heel. The contractor reported it to OSHA.

Brandt & Sherman has more than 50 years of combined experience. We start with who else was there.

If you were hurt on a land rig or at a wellsite, yours is an oilfield case. Offshore platforms, vessels and some fabrication work for them can fall under federal law, though non-maritime work on a fixed platform in Louisiana state waters can fall under Louisiana comp. Our offshore accident page explains when. For injuries outside a plant, see our workplace accident page.

Workers' comp stops at your employer

Workers' comp is generally your only remedy against your own employer (R.S. 23:1032), and it is capped. It pays medical treatment and two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to $903 a week for injuries from September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027. Earn more than $1,354.50 a week and you hit that ceiling. Nothing is paid for pain.

File your workers' compensation claim anyway. Do it even if your employer suggests using your own health insurance. Collecting comp does not affect your right to sue another company whose fault caused the injury (R.S. 23:1101). That claim has no weekly cap and can include pain and suffering.

Eight employees of a contractor doing weld overlay work inside MeadWestvaco's DeRidder refinery said they were exposed to high levels of hydrogen sulfide in 2008. They did not sue their own employer, which had comp immunity, and sued the plant owner, among other defendants. MeadWestvaco settled all eight claims by 2012. In 2019 the Third Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of its later claims seeking reimbursement from the contractor and its insurers (Ortiz v. MeadWestvaco Corp., La. App. 3 Cir. 2019).

Who at the plant can be sued

Any company whose fault contributed can be sued unless the law treats it as your employer. Some companies at the plant can claim your employer's immunity from suit.

• Your direct employer is immune except for an intentional act.
• The plant owner can be sued unless it qualifies as your statutory employer, which gives it the same immunity from suit your direct employer has (R.S. 23:1061). Expect it to raise that defense.
• A general contractor above your employer can claim the same immunity if its contract with the owner covers your employer's work.
• A plant that borrowed you from a staffing company may claim the same immunity as your "special employer" if it directed your work (R.S. 23:1031(C)).
• Other contractors, such as construction and turnaround crews, are usually third parties.
• Equipment makers answer for defective products under the Louisiana Products Liability Act (R.S. 9:2800.54).

Statutory employer defenses can fail. Workers for local contractors were exposed to a 2006 release at CITGO's Lake Charles refinery, some during the cleanup. In 2008 CITGO admitted fault for the release in their lawsuits. In 2016 it claimed to be their statutory employer, relying on partial contracts. In 2018 the Third Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's refusal to grant CITGO summary judgment on that defense (Allison v. CITGO Petroleum Corp., La. App. 3 Cir. 2018). The court's opinion found the partial contracts inadmissible and held CITGO to its admission of fault. Five of the workers had been awarded $24,140 to $50,000 each at a 2017 trial. CITGO did not appeal the amounts.

In February 2016, a staffing company's worker suffered a fractured skull at 5200 Curtis Lane in New Iberia, an address the Port of Iberia lists for one of its businesses. The staffing company reported to OSHA that the worker was grinding the joint of a pipe when another joint of pipe rolled and struck the worker's head. Who directed the work is not stated. Who directed it helps decide whether a borrowing company is a third party or a special employer.

Plant and refinery explosions and releases

When a plant explodes or leaks, look first at the owner's equipment. Then at the maintenance work on it. Two recent federal investigations of Louisiana chemical plants found the cause there.

In July 2023, explosions and fires at Dow's Glycol II unit in Plaquemine released more than 31,000 pounds of toxic ethylene oxide. Debris from portable work lights, left in a reflux drum during turnaround maintenance two months earlier, punctured a rupture disc, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board found.

At Honeywell's Geismar plant, a gasket failed in a fatal 2021 hydrogen fluoride release. The Board found Honeywell had known about corrosion damage to that type of gasket by 2007. By 2021 it still had not replaced them all, including the one that failed. In June 2024, a contract worker there opened a flanged connection that had not been adequately emptied of hydrogen fluoride. Neither he nor Honeywell knew. He suffered second-degree burns.

For a contract worker, facts like these point past the employer to the plant owner. Not always to a lawsuit. Whether the owner can be sued turns on the statutory employer question.

The owner keeps the records

At a chemical plant or refinery, the plant owner keeps the records that show what went wrong. Demand in writing that they be preserved. Under OSHA's Process Safety Management rule (29 CFR 1910.119), a plant handling large amounts of highly hazardous chemicals must log injuries and illnesses to contract workers in process areas. It must start investigating any incident that caused or nearly caused a catastrophic release within 48 hours, and keep the report five years.

Who gets paid first

In a judgment, your employer's comp insurer is repaid first. What it paid you comes off "the first dollar," however the jury labeled the damages (R.S. 23:1103).

An illustration, not a real case. The comp insurer has paid $45,000 and joins your suit against a contractor. The jury awards $300,000. The insurer gets its $45,000 back first, minus its share of your legal fees and costs, which cannot exceed $15,000, a third of its recovery. It then gets a credit for what you recovered, less your fees and costs, and pays you no more comp until future benefits use that credit up.

Settling is where people lose benefits. When you sue, notify your employer and its comp insurer in writing right away, naming the court. Before any settlement, get written approval from both. Skip either step and a settlement can forfeit your future comp, including medical care (R.S. 23:1102).

Deadlines and the 2026 fault rule

For claims arising after July 1, 2024, you generally have two years from the injury to file a lawsuit against a third party (Civil Code art. 3493.1, Act 423 of 2024). Comp has its own deadline, generally one year from the accident or the last benefit payment. If the injury shows up later, you have one year from when it develops. In that case, a claim begun more than two years after the accident is limited to six months of temporary total disability benefits, and no claim is allowed after three years (R.S. 23:1209). Wrongful death claims have their own deadline.

For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51% or more at fault recovers nothing, and a smaller share of fault cuts the award by that percentage (Civil Code art. 2323, as amended by Act 15 of 2025, effective January 1, 2026). For causes of action that arose before January 1, 2026, fault only reduces the award.

Expect the plant owner to point to a skipped lockout step or the job safety analysis (JSA) you signed. Under the 2026 rule, if the jury puts your share of fault at 51% or more, that argument wins the case. A signed JSA does not waive your claim, and Louisiana voids any advance clause limiting liability for physical injury (Civil Code art. 2004). The jury will still weigh what the JSA says.

If your employer was also at fault, the jury assigns it a share, even though it cannot be sued (art. 2323). No defendant pays that share. Each pays only its own (art. 2324).

What to do now

• List every company on site: the plant owner, the general contractor, other crews and any staffing company. In a plant, those names are the case.
• Ask the plant owner in writing to preserve the failed equipment, the work permit, the incident investigation and the contract worker injury log.
• Get your hospital record and note the date of your last comp payment.
• If your employer keeps paying your wages, the two-year clock on a third-party suit still runs.

Industrial accident FAQs

Can I sue my employer after a plant accident in Louisiana?

Usually not. Workers' compensation is generally your only remedy against your own employer (R.S. 23:1032). The exception is an intentional act, meaning the employer wanted you hurt or knew injury was substantially certain to follow. Safety violations alone do not qualify. You can still sue other companies at the plant unless one qualifies as your statutory or special employer.

Who can I sue besides my employer after an industrial accident?

Any company whose fault contributed to your injury, unless the law treats it as your employer: the plant owner, another contractor or an equipment maker. Some may claim immunity as a statutory or special employer (R.S. 23:1061, 23:1031(C)). The contracts matter. So does who directed your work.

Who gets paid first from a recovery against the plant owner or a contractor?

Your employer's comp insurer. In a judgment, it is repaid from the first dollar. If it joins your suit, its share of your legal fees and costs is capped at one-third of what it recovers (R.S. 23:1103). It then takes a credit against future comp, reduced by the fees and costs you paid. When you sue, notify your employer and its insurer in writing right away, naming the court. Before any settlement, get written approval from both. Skip either step and you can forfeit future comp, including medical care (R.S. 23:1102).

The plant owner says it is my "statutory employer." What does that mean?

It is claiming your employer's immunity from suit. Under R.S. 23:1061, an owner usually needs a written contract, with your employer or with the general contractor above it, recognizing the owner as your statutory employer. That contract creates a presumption that the owner is your statutory employer. It can be overcome only by showing your work was neither an integral part of nor essential to the owner's ability to produce its goods, products or services.

How long do I have to file after a plant or refinery accident?

Two deadlines run at once. For claims arising after July 1, 2024, a lawsuit against a third party generally must be filed within two years of the injury (Civil Code art. 3493.1). A workers' compensation claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident or of the last payment (R.S. 23:1209).

Will OSHA investigate the accident that hurt me?

Not necessarily. Employers must report a work death within 8 hours and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or eye loss within 24 hours (29 CFR 1904.39). From 2015 to 2021, OSHA inspected an average of 33% of workplaces where an employer reported a severe injury, and 48% of amputation reports. If no inspector comes, the evidence stays with the plant owner.

Talk to a Lafayette industrial accident lawyer

The plant owner, the contractors and their insurers each have lawyers reading the contracts. You should too.

Call (337) 800-4000 or contact us online. The consultation is free, and there is no attorney fee unless we win. Clients may be responsible for costs and expenses.