Butte, MontanaButte Oil Field Accident
Butte Oil Field Accident Lawyers: Butte Workers Hurt in the Bakken, on Rigs and Hauling Fuel Through Silver Bow County
Boland Aarab PLLP.
Butte is not an oil town, but many Butte workers travel to oil and gas fields, and fuel and LPG move through Silver Bow County every day. If you were hurt, workers’ comp is usually your only claim against your employer, but you can sue other negligent companies. The right court depends on where the injury happened.
Hurt in an oil field, rig or fuel-hauling accident, or lost a family member? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
How do oil field injuries reach Butte families?
There are three common paths.
- Butte workers on out-of-town hitches. Butte has long supplied skilled labor to mines, construction and energy work elsewhere. Workers from Butte and southwest Montana take rotations in the Bakken in eastern Montana and North Dakota, and in the oil and gas basins of Wyoming. When something goes wrong on a rig far from home, the injured worker comes back to Butte for recovery, and the family has to figure out the legal case from here.
- Trained here. Montana Tech in Butte is one of a small number of universities in the country offering a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering. Its graduates and interns go on to drilling, completion and production work across the West.
- Fuel and gas moving through Butte. The Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway lists LPG and petroleum products among the commodities it hauls, and the Port of Montana at Silver Bow transloads freight between rail and truck for both BNSF and Union Pacific. Tanker trucks run on the shared I-90/I-15 corridor and over Homestake and Elk Park passes. Fuel-hauling crashes, transloading accidents and fires can happen right here.
What happens after an oil field accident when you live in Butte?
The injury is reported where it happened. On a well site, the employer reports to its insurer and, for serious incidents, to OSHA. If the injury happened in North Dakota or Wyoming, those states’ workers’ compensation systems and laws may govern your benefits, and they differ from Montana’s. That is the first thing to sort out.
Care often starts far away and continues in Butte. A worker injured on a remote rig may be treated at a hospital near the well site, then come home to follow-up care in Butte. St. James Healthcare in Butte is an ACS Level III / State Area Trauma Hospital (DPHHS, Nov. 2025). Keep records from every provider, in every state.
The civil case may or may not be filed in Butte. A lawsuit against a negligent third party, such as a well operator, another contractor or an equipment maker, is usually filed where the injury happened or where a defendant is located.
- For a crash or transloading accident in Silver Bow County, a state-court case goes to the Second Judicial District Court (§ 3-5-101(2), MCA), at the Silver Bow County Courthouse, 155 West Granite Street, and an out-of-state defendant may remove it to the U.S. District Court, Butte Division, at the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse (mtd.uscourts.gov).
- For an injury in eastern Montana, the case can generally be filed where the injury happened or where a defendant resides. Against a corporation organized outside Montana, Montana’s venue statute also allows the county where the injured person lives, which for a Butte resident is Silver Bow County (§ 25-2-122, MCA).
- For an injury in another state, venue is only half the question. A Montana court must also have jurisdiction over the defendant, which is often contested when both the company and the injury are outside Montana. That state’s courts, and sometimes its law, may apply.
We help Butte families sort out which court and which law apply, and we will tell you plainly if a case needs to be filed outside Montana.
Montana law that applies
When Montana law governs, the key rules are these. Our Montana oil field accident lawyer page covers them in detail.
- Workers’ comp is usually the only remedy against your own employer (§ 39-71-411, MCA), but you can sue other companies whose negligence caused the injury (§ 39-71-412, MCA).
- OSHA’s general industry standards (29 C.F.R. part 1910) cover most drilling and servicing work (OSHA interpretation, 2009).
- Oilfield truck drivers have special hours-of-service rules, including a 24-hour restart (49 C.F.R. § 395.1(d)). A fuel hauler crossing Homestake Pass is still bound by the federal truck safety rules.
- Most injury and wrongful-death lawsuits must be filed within 3 years (§ 27-2-204, MCA). Other states’ deadlines can be shorter.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Butte case?
Oil field cases rarely stay in one town. They involve records from operators and contractors spread across several states, experts in drilling or trucking, and decisions about the right court. We are based in Great Falls and handle cases throughout Montana, and our attorneys travel for site inspections, depositions, hearings and trial, including to Butte to meet with you and your family.
We do not have a Butte office. Our jury trials have been in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties.
The Boland Aarab Way
- More than 4,000 hours in the courtroom and more than a dozen jury trials.
- Federal experience for multi-state defendants: more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years, and two Ninth Circuit arguments by Samir Aarab.
- An appellate record reaching back to 1977 (appellate results).
- Members of the trial bar: AAJ, MTLA and, for Samir Aarab, Public Justice.
We also handle burn injury cases in Butte and truck accident cases in Butte. Visit our Butte personal injury page for more.
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Frequently Asked Questions
I live in Butte but was hurt on a rig in North Dakota. Can a Montana firm help? We can help you sort out which state’s workers’ comp and law apply and where a third-party case should be filed. If it must be filed outside Montana, we will tell you so at the start.
Can my case be filed in Butte if the injury happened in the Bakken? Sometimes. Montana’s venue statute lets a Butte resident sue an out-of-state corporation in Silver Bow County, but the company must also be subject to jurisdiction in Montana, which can be contested for an injury in North Dakota. For an injury in eastern Montana, it is often possible.
A fuel tanker crashed on Homestake Pass. Is that an oil field case? It is usually handled as a truck case under the federal safety rules, and it would be heard in Montana. Oilfield hours-of-service exceptions may come up as a defense.
Who can I sue besides my employer? Often the well operator, other contractors on site, equipment manufacturers and trucking companies. Each is a separate third party.
How quickly should my family call? As soon as possible. Rig equipment and site conditions change quickly, and deadlines in other states can be shorter than Montana’s three years.
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.
