Injured working for Diamond Offshore?
If you were hurt on a Diamond Offshore rig — in the Gulf or on the other side of the world — your employer may try to force your case into a foreign court to limit what you can recover. We have stopped Diamond from doing exactly that, in three Texas forums.
Three Texas courts rejected an attempt to force an injured worker's case into a foreign court
The injury, and the maneuver that followed.
The firm has litigated maritime injury cases involving Diamond Offshore. In one matter, an offshore worker hurt on a Diamond Offshore rig faced an effort by the company to move his case out of Texas and into a foreign court.
The tactic is one that recurs in international offshore cases: a defendant invokes a foreign forum-selection clause — sometimes one reached through internal corporate assignments — to push an injured worker's claim out of a U.S. court and into a foreign forum where recovery is harder.
It can be challenged. Drawing on doctrines including illusory-promise and personal-services contract law and the significance of a post-litigation assignment, the firm defeated exactly that maneuver — the trial court, the First Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Texas all declined to send the case abroad. Three Texas courts said no to the same maneuver. See more of the firm's case work.
Were you hurt overseas, or employed through a foreign entity?
A foreign passport, a job offshore another country, or an employment contract routed through a foreign company does not automatically send your case to a foreign court — and it does not mean you have no U.S. claim. Those are exactly the kinds of questions these forum fights turn on. If your employer is pointing to a forum-selection clause or arguing a foreign court should hear your case, that can be challenged. See the firm's complex maritime cases.
Diamond offshore workers, wherever they were hurt.
Diamond Offshore operates drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and around the world. The people who crew them face serious hazards — and sometimes a serious legal fight just to be heard. We represent injured Diamond workers whatever the role or the location:
Foreign nationals and internationally based crews
A non-U.S. citizen, or a worker injured overseas, can still have a U.S. maritime claim; we have represented foreign nationals and internationally based crews.
Workers hurt by a co-worker's mistake
Equipment started while someone is working on it, and similar crew errors, are classic employer negligence under the Jones Act.
Drill, deck, and maintenance crews
Mechanics, floorhands, roughnecks, crane operators, and others injured by equipment, falls, or unsafe methods.
Anyone facing a forum or jurisdiction fight
If Diamond is trying to move your case to another court or country, that maneuver can be opposed — we have done it and won.
What an injured Diamond worker can recover.
If you are a seaman, you are not limited to a workers' comp check. You generally have three overlapping protections. A Jones Act negligence claim against your employer — a co-worker starting equipment while you are working on it is exactly the kind of negligence it covers. An unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner for a rig, equipment, or crew not reasonably fit for the job, which does not require proving negligence. And maintenance and cure — a daily allowance and full medical care owed from the moment you're hurt, regardless of fault.
For international workers, there is an added layer: whether a U.S. court will hear the case at all, and which law applies. Those questions can be decisive — and they are winnable. If you were just hurt, start with what to do in the first 72 hours; and if you've been told you're only a workers' comp case, read Jones Act vs. workers' comp.
Talk to a firm that has beaten Diamond Offshore.
Doyle Dennis Avery LLP represents injured offshore workers across Texas, the Gulf Coast, and internationally — and we have defeated Diamond Offshore's attempt to force a case out of Texas, all the way to the Supreme Court of Texas. A case review costs nothing, and there is no obligation.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The firm has litigated against Diamond Offshore, including defeating an effort to move an injured worker's case into a foreign court; those rulings are a matter of public record and reflect a procedural victory, not a damages award. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome; every case is different and depends on its own facts. Whether the Jones Act, maintenance and cure, or a U.S. forum is available in your situation depends on your specific circumstances. For advice about your case, speak with a qualified maritime attorney.
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