Billings, MontanaBillings Oil Field Accident
Billings Oil Field Accident Lawyers: Oil Rig, Well Site, Pipeline and Oilfield Truck Accidents Across Eastern Montana
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If you were hurt at a well site, on a rig, on a pipeline job or in an oilfield truck crash in eastern Montana, you may have claims against the operator, service companies and trucking firms, not just a workers’ comp claim. Many eastern Montana oil cases are heard in Billings. Most must be filed within 3 years.
Seriously hurt in the oil field, or lost a family member to an oilfield accident? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Why do oil field cases come through Billings?
Billings is not in the middle of an oil field, but it is where much of eastern Montana’s oil business is managed, treated and litigated.
- Federal minerals are managed here. The Bureau of Land Management’s Montana/Dakotas State Office is at 5001 Southgate Drive in Billings. It oversees about 47.2 million acres of federal mineral estate in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota (BLM). Wells on federal leases carry federal operating requirements that can matter in a lawsuit.
- Crude is refined here. When Par Pacific bought ExxonMobil’s Billings refinery in 2023, the deal included the 70-mile Silvertip Pipeline and a 40% interest in the Yellowstone refined-products pipeline (Par Pacific, SEC filing). Pipeline construction, maintenance and terminal work are part of the regional oil economy.
- Injured workers are flown here. Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services lists Billings Clinic and St. Vincent’s Healthcare in Billings as the state’s two ACS Level 1 / Comprehensive Trauma Centers (DPHHS). A worker hurt on a remote lease in eastern Montana may be stabilized locally and then transferred to Billings.
- Cases are heard here. The Billings Division of the U.S. District Court covers Richland, Dawson, Fallon, Wibaux, McCone, Rosebud, Powder River and the other south-central and eastern counties, twenty-two in all (D. Mont. Local Rules). Richland County, around Sidney, is part of Montana’s share of the Bakken. When an oilfield company from Texas, Oklahoma or North Dakota is sued, the federal case usually comes to the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse at 2601 2nd Avenue North in Billings.
Many oilfield workers also live in Billings and drive, or are driven, to well sites hundreds of miles away. Crew vans, pickups and water and crude haulers run long hours on two-lane highways through the eastern part of the state and on I-94 out of Billings.
What happens after an oil field injury?
Get medical care and report the injury to your employer in writing. Then write down every company on location: the operator, the drilling or workover contractor, the service companies, the trucking outfits and the rental-equipment suppliers. That list often decides who can be sued.
The evidence at a well site does not wait. Equipment is repaired or returned to a rental yard, gas-monitor and pressure data can be overwritten, and the site gets cleaned up. A written preservation demand for the failed equipment, the job-safety analysis, permits, gas-detection records, truck data and driver logs should go out quickly.
Where the case is heard depends on where the injury happened and who is sued. A well-site injury in Richland County would be filed in state court there. A case arising in Yellowstone County, such as a pipeline, terminal or yard injury, goes to the Thirteenth Judicial District Court at the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 North 27th Street (§ 3-5-101, MCA). Out-of-state defendants often move cases from any of these counties into the federal court’s Billings Division.
What about oilfield truck crashes on I-94 and eastern Montana highways?
Oilfield trucking is one of the most dangerous parts of the work, and the trucking company is usually a third party you can sue. Drivers of vehicles used only to transport oilfield equipment or service oil and gas operations can restart their weekly hours after 24 hours off, and some specially trained drivers may log well-site waiting time as off duty (49 C.F.R. § 395.1(d)). Those exceptions are narrow. Whether a carrier used them properly is often a key question. For more on trucking cases, see our Billings truck accident page.
Montana law that applies
- Workers’ comp is usually the only remedy against your own employer (§ 39-71-411, MCA), but other companies whose negligence caused the injury can be sued (§ 39-71-412, MCA).
- Safety rules: OSHA’s general industry standards cover most drilling and servicing work, and the construction standards cover only site preparation (OSHA interpretation, 2009). OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard, which governs refineries, does not apply to well drilling or servicing (29 C.F.R. § 1910.119(a)(2)).
- Defective equipment: sellers of unreasonably dangerous products can be strictly liable (§ 27-1-719, MCA).
- Deadlines: 30 days to notify your employer, 12 months for the written comp claim (§§ 39-71-603, 39-71-601, MCA), and 3 years for most lawsuits (§ 27-2-204, MCA).
If you were hired in another state, or hurt across the line in North Dakota, other law may apply. Our Montana oil field accident page covers explosions, H2S and contract indemnity in more depth.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?
Oilfield cases are spread across a huge area, and the lawyers have to go where the witnesses and the equipment are. We are based in Great Falls and handle cases across Montana. Our attorneys travel to Billings, and to eastern Montana, for inspections, depositions, hearings and trial. Our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County and in rural Phillips County, and we are comfortable in the federal court where many of these cases end up. We do not have a Billings office.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We try cases in rural Montana. Our firm has tried more than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and our attorneys have spent more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- We know federal court. Our attorneys have handled more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years, and Samir Aarab has argued twice before the Ninth Circuit.
- We protect verdicts. When a Phillips County jury’s $168,500 verdict was thrown out, we had it reinstated by the Montana Supreme Court (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
- You work with the lawyers, not a case manager.
Related Billings pages: workplace injury · burn injury · all Billings personal injury cases
Frequently Asked Questions
I live in Billings but was hurt on a well site near Sidney. Where is my case filed? State-court cases are usually filed where the injury happened or where a defendant is located. If an out-of-state company is sued, the case is often heard in the federal court’s Billings Division, which covers Richland County.
Can I sue the operator if I worked for a service company? Often yes. Workers’ comp protects your own employer, not the operator or other contractors whose negligence caused your injury (§ 39-71-412, MCA).
Does it matter that the well was on a federal lease? It can. Federal operating requirements, administered from the BLM state office in Billings, may help show what the operator was required to do.
I was hurt in a crew-van crash on I-94. Who pays? Possibly the driver’s employer, the vehicle owner and their insurers, in addition to workers’ comp. Your own underinsured motorist coverage may also apply.
How fast should I act after an oilfield injury? Right away. Notify your employer in writing within 30 days (§ 39-71-603, MCA), and get a preservation demand out before equipment and data are gone.
Talk to a Billings Oil Field Accident Lawyer
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
