Billings, MontanaBillings Workplace Injury
Billings Workplace Injury Lawyers: Construction, Refinery, Warehouse and Industrial Accidents in Yellowstone County
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If you were seriously hurt on the job in Billings, workers’ compensation is usually your only claim against your own employer. But if another company caused the injury, such as a general contractor, equipment maker, property owner or negligent driver, you can sue that company for full damages while keeping your comp benefits. Deadlines start within 30 days.
Seriously hurt at work, or lost a family member to a workplace accident? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
What kinds of work injuries happen in Billings?
Yellowstone County is Montana’s most populous county, and Billings is the working center of the eastern half of the state. The jobs that produce the most serious injuries here follow the local economy.
- Construction. Billings keeps building. The Montana Department of Transportation’s Billings Bypass alone is a roughly $136.5 million, six-phase project connecting the Johnson Lane interchange on I-90 in Lockwood, across the Yellowstone River, to Old Highway 312 and U.S. 87 in the Heights, including Montana’s first diverging diamond interchange (MDT). Highway, commercial and residential jobs bring many contractors onto one site, which is exactly where third-party claims arise.
- Refineries and industrial plants. Three refineries operate in the county: Phillips 66 in Billings, Par Pacific in Lockwood and CHS in Laurel. Refinery turnarounds bring contract crews in large numbers, and a worker employed by one contractor may be hurt by another contractor’s equipment or a plant owner’s hazard.
- Food and agricultural processing. Western Sugar Cooperative runs a beet processing facility in Billings (Western Sugar), and grain, livestock and food-distribution work runs through the region.
- Warehousing and trucking. Distribution centers along the interstates and the rail lines mean forklifts, loading docks and delivery driving.
- Health care. The city’s two major hospital systems and many clinics and care facilities employ thousands of people in work that carries its own lifting, fall and assault risks.
What happens after a workplace injury in Billings?
Report the injury to your employer in writing and get medical care. Then look past your employer. The questions that decide whether you have a lawsuit are about everyone else on the site: who owned the equipment, who set up the scaffold or the trench, who controlled the area where you were hurt, and who was driving the other vehicle.
Montana has no OSHA-approved State Plan, so most private-sector work sites in Billings are under federal OSHA (OSHA State Plans). OSHA’s Billings Area Office is at 2900 4th Avenue North, Suite 303 (OSHA). If OSHA inspects after a serious injury, its file, including photographs, interview notes and citations, can become important evidence. An OSHA citation does not decide a lawsuit, and the lack of one does not end it.
A third-party lawsuit filed in state court is heard in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court at the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 North 27th Street (§ 3-5-101, MCA). Contractors and manufacturers from other states often move cases to the Billings Division of federal court, at the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse, 2601 2nd Avenue North (District of Montana). The workers’ compensation claim itself runs separately, through the insurer and, if disputed, the Workers’ Compensation Court.
Who can be sued for a Billings work injury?
Depending on the facts:
- A general contractor or another subcontractor that created or ignored a hazard on a shared site.
- A plant or property owner that controlled the premises.
- The manufacturer or seller of a defective machine, guard, lift or ladder, under Montana’s strict product liability rule (§ 27-1-719, MCA).
- A negligent driver and the driver’s employer, if you were hurt on the road while working.
- An engineering, inspection or maintenance firm whose work fell short.
Staffing arrangements and contracts can blur who counts as your employer. Sorting that out is one of the first things we do.
Montana law that applies
For more on exclusivity, subrogation and intentional-injury claims, see our Montana workplace injury page.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?
We are based in Great Falls and handle work-injury cases across Montana. A third-party case against a contractor or manufacturer is built on site inspections, expert analysis and documents, and it is won by lawyers prepared to try it. Our attorneys travel to Billings for site visits, depositions, hearings and trial, and our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County. We do not have a Billings office, and we will come to you.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We try cases. 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. More than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years, where out-of-state contractors often move their cases.
- We protect verdicts. The Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
- We handle the whole picture. The third-party case and the workers’ comp lien are handled together, by the attorneys you meet on the first call.
Related Billings pages: oil field and refinery accidents · burn injury · all Billings personal injury cases
Frequently Asked Questions
I was hurt on a Billings construction site by another company’s crew. Can I sue? Often yes. Your employer is protected by workers’ comp, but another contractor whose negligence caused the injury can be sued for full damages (§ 39-71-412, MCA).
Where is OSHA in Billings, and should I contact it? OSHA’s Billings Area Office is on 4th Avenue North. You can report unsafe conditions, and after a serious injury its inspection file may become evidence in a third-party case.
I was hurt during a refinery turnaround as a contract worker. Who is responsible? Your own employer is covered by workers’ comp, but the refinery owner or another contractor may be responsible for a hazard it created or controlled. Contracts on the site decide who pays, not who was at fault.
Do I lose my comp benefits if I sue a third party? No. You keep them, and the insurer has a lien on the recovery that Montana law limits (§ 39-71-414, MCA).
Where would my Billings work-injury lawsuit be filed? In the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Billings, or in the federal court’s Billings Division if the defendant is from another state.
Talk to a Billings Workplace Injury 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.
