HOUSTON - A Houston-based oil company now faces at least six lawsuits over a well fire in January, as a worker's wife has filed suit on her own behalf.
Hilary Lara's April 15 lawsuit in Harris Country District Court against Verdun Oil Company says she has lost the companionship and household income of her husband, Juan Carlos Lara, who was horribly injured in a Jan. 24 fire at a wellsite near Cotulla.
Juan Carlos, meanwhile, has asked to intervene in another case brought by two co-workers, as have two other men. The lawsuits seek damages "well above" $1 million.
Lara suffered injuries like "broken and shattered legs and severe burns to his face and body," plus post-traumatic stress disorder, his lawyer Craig Sico wrote two weeks after the incident.
The first lawsuit came three days after explosions caused a fire at the Altito D 17A well in LaSalle County. Gilbert Pena and Quentin Paul Rodriguez's 12-page complaint includes graphic pictures of facial burn injuries.
That suit calls it a "sudden catastrophic fire." It has received no media coverage, and an email to Verdun seeking details of its cause and the company's response received no response as of presstime.
Adam Lewis of Arnold & Itkin and Omar Alvarez of O.G. Alvarez & Associates represent the plaintiffs in the first-filed case. Not long after they sued, Joshua Korczynski and his family filed a petition to intervene and join the case as plaintiffs.
Daniel J.T. Sciano of Tinsman & Sciano represent him. Sico of Sico Law Group and Nick Morrell of Cesar Ornela Law represent Juan Carlos Lara in his similar attempt to join the case, plus Hilary Lara in her standalone complaint.
Intervenor-plaintiff Patrick Rodriguez says he suffered "life-altering injuries" in his petition filed by Manuel Maltos of Maltos Law Firm and German Cantu of Cantu Law Firm.
Verdun Oil filed its answer in the first case on April 11, establishing defenses like the injuries were possibly the result of "Plaintiffs' own negligence and/or fault, and any recovery must be therefore reduced proportionally."
It can also point to errors by third parties not under the company's control. More concerning for the plaintiffs is a possible arbitration agreement with their employer, Ranger Energy Services, that would keep these cases from ever seeing a jury.
"By filing this answer, Verdun does not waive (and expressly reserves) its right to compel arbitration of Plaintiffs' claims," the company said.
Daniel Baldwin of The Norris Firm represents Verdun, which weeks before the fire settled Federal Trade Commission charges it with completing a $1.4 billion merger with EP Energy, whose assets were located mainly in LaSalle County, before the FTC could review it.
EP allegedly allowed Verdun to assume operational and decision-making control of it before the merger was officially approved, it was alleged, leading to a $5.6 million civil penalty.