Bayou Cane is the working heart of the Houma area — the stretch of Terrebonne Parish along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, West Park Avenue, and U.S. 90 where the oilfield-service companies, fabrication yards, welding shops, and offshore-support crews that keep South Louisiana’s energy industry running are based. When a rig hand, roustabout, fabricator, or crew-boat worker from Bayou Cane is seriously hurt on the job, the injury is rarely a simple one. Kopfler & Hermann has represented injured oilfield and offshore workers and their families out of Houma since 1977, and we know how these cases work here.
An oilfield injury is not an ordinary on-the-job accident. Which law protects you — and how much you can recover — depends on exactly where and how you were hurt. A worker injured on a fixed platform, in a fabrication yard, or on a shop floor in Bayou Cane may fall under Louisiana workers’ compensation or, for maritime and dock work, the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA). A worker who spends a substantial part of his time aboard a vessel — a crew boat, liftboat, jack-up, or supply vessel working out of the Houma Navigation Canal or Port Fourchon — may instead qualify as a Jones Act seaman, which changes the case entirely. Getting that classification right at the start is one of the most important things a lawyer does, because it determines what you are owed.
Depending on how your case is classified, you may be able to pursue:
Different deadlines apply to different kinds of oilfield cases, and missing one can end your claim:
Because more than one of these can apply to a single Bayou Cane worker’s situation, it is worth talking to a lawyer early rather than guessing.
Report the injury to your supervisor and make sure it is written down. Get medical care and follow the treatment plan. Take photos of the equipment, the site, and your injuries if you can. Get the names of coworkers who saw what happened. Be careful about signing statements or recorded interviews from a company adjuster before you understand your rights — and keep copies of everything.
We represent workers and families in oilfield and offshore injuries including falls from height, crane and rigging accidents, dropped-object and struck-by injuries, fabrication-yard and welding accidents, crush and caught-between injuries, fires and explosions, chemical and toxic exposure, transportation accidents to and from the job, and catastrophic and fatal injuries.
Our office is just minutes away in downtown Houma at 306 Grinage Street, serving Bayou Cane and the surrounding Terrebonne and Lafourche communities. We have been helping Houma-area families since 1977, and we handle injury cases on a contingency basis — there is no fee unless we win.
Am I a Jones Act seaman or a land-based oilfield worker?
It depends on how much of your work is connected to a vessel or fleet of vessels in navigation. Workers who spend a substantial portion of their time (often thought of as roughly 30% or more) aboard a vessel may qualify as seamen. Because the answer drives everything about your case, it should be reviewed by a lawyer familiar with maritime work.
What is maintenance and cure?
For injured seamen, maintenance and cure is the vessel owner’s duty to pay reasonable daily living expenses and medical care until you reach maximum medical improvement — owed no matter who caused the injury.
How much does it cost to hire you?
We handle injury cases on a contingency-fee basis, which means no fee unless we recover for you.
How long do I have to file?
It depends on the type of claim — see the deadlines above. Some deadlines are as short as 30 days to report. The safest step is to call early.
If you or someone you love was hurt working in the oilfield or offshore, call Kopfler & Hermann at (985) 851-3311 or visit us at 306 Grinage St, Houma, LA 70360. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win.
We also represent injured workers and families in Gray, Schriever, Bourg, Chauvin, and Dulac, and across South Louisiana. Learn more on our Houma maritime injury page.
The information on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Viewing this page or contacting Kopfler & Hermann does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
