A worker who was injured on the job at a gas drilling rig in Colorado was awarded $4.1 million by a federal jury in Denver in June, according to the Post Independent.
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20120615/VALLEYNEWS/120619935/1083&ParentProfile=1074
The verdict went to Von Phathong, now 42, who was born in Laos but is now a Louisiana resident. The award was against Tesco Corp., a Houston-based subcontractor for Encana Oil and Gas, which was drilling for gas near Rifle, Colo.
According to the Post Independent, Phathong was on a drilling rig in December 2005 when a drilling pipe section came loose and crushed him against the drilling derrick. His injuries included herniated discs and spinal fractures, and now he can’t work because of his pain and inability to move, according to the newspaper.
Phathong’s lawyer alleged that managers at the rig knew or should have known that workers had been told to “to connect two different-sized drilling pipes,” which then came apart, injuring Phathong.
The U.S. District Court jury found that Encana was 10 percent responsible for the accident, but it wasn’t named in the lawsuit. So it will not have to contribute to paying the jury award.
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