Hurt offshore overseas — and the company answers to Houston? Your case may belong in a Texas court.
Much of the world's offshore oil patch is run from Texas. Operators, drilling contractors, and service companies make decisions, write safety policies, and sign contracts from Houston offices — even when the rig is off Nigeria, Guyana, Brazil, or Southeast Asia. For a foreign worker hurt on one of those jobs, the real question is rarely whether you have a claim. It's where it can be brought and whose law applies — and the Texas connection is often the answer.
The rig is foreign. The company often isn't.
The crews on the world's deepwater rigs are international — South African, British, Australian, New Zealand, Filipino, Nigerian, and Brazilian tradesmen work alongside Americans on the same drill floors. But follow the chain upward and it very often runs to Texas: the operator's exploration unit, the drilling contractor's headquarters, the service company that staffed the job, or the entity that chartered the vessel. Contracts get signed in Houston. Safety policies get written in Houston. Day-to-day operational decisions get made in Houston.
That matters legally. A defendant's Texas and U.S. contacts are the raw material of personal jurisdiction, and the involvement of a U.S.-based operator or contractor reshapes the forum and choice-of-law analysis. When a Texas company sits in the chain of responsibility, the argument that the case "belongs overseas" gets much harder for the defense to sustain.
Why you were told "you have no U.S. claim."
Foreign workers hurt offshore are routinely turned away — by the employer, by the insurer, sometimes by other lawyers. The wall is built deliberately. Workers on foreign jobs are often paid through entities organized in Bermuda, Mauritius, or another offshore jurisdiction created precisely to complicate where they can sue. Employment contracts carry foreign forum-selection clauses or arbitration clauses. And once suit is filed, the defense moves to dismiss for forum non conveniens — the argument that the case is more "convenient" in a court system where recoveries are a fraction of what a U.S. jury would award.
None of that is the same as having no claim. The obstacle is procedural, and procedural obstacles can be litigated and overcome.
The defendant's first move is to make the case look like it belongs anywhere but a U.S. court. That move can be answered.
Jurisdiction, forum, and choice of law.
For a foreign worker's offshore injury, three threshold battles usually decide the case before damages are ever discussed:
Can a U.S. court reach the defendants? For a Texas company, its home courts plainly can. For the foreign employment entity, Federal Rule 4(k)(2) and a careful record of the defendant's U.S. contacts often supply the answer — as in our foreign-employer jurisdiction case.
Defendants move to dismiss for forum non conveniens or to enforce a foreign forum-selection or arbitration clause. Those motions can be beaten — see the Bermuda forum-maneuver case, where a last-minute corporate maneuver failed to move a Scottish worker's case out of Texas.
Which sovereign's law applies turns on the maritime choice-of-law factors and, for seamen, on 46 U.S.C. § 30105. Courts read § 30105 as a choice-of-law switch, not a courthouse bar: if a foreign remedy exists, the claim proceeds under foreign law in the U.S. court; if none exists, U.S. maritime law applies. Either way, the case can be heard here.
A U.S. court applying foreign law is not a defeat — it is often the win. The case stays in front of a U.S. judge, on U.S. discovery rules, against defendants whose documents and decision-makers are in Texas. That is the fight worth having, and it is winnable: in the cross-border choice-of-law case, we litigated exactly this question for a New Zealand chief mechanic injured offshore Nigeria.
Sound like your situation? Calling us is confidential, costs nothing, and starts nothing you don’t choose to start.
Text (713) 489-2297Cross-border offshore cases are the firm's signature work.
Doyle Dennis Avery has built much of its reputation on exactly these cases — foreign workers, foreign waters, and a chain of responsibility that runs through Texas. A New Zealand chief mechanic hurt offshore Nigeria. A Scottish mechanic injured on a drillship offshore Myanmar who kept his case in Texas despite a Bermuda employment entity. A South African rope-access technician whose case against a Mauritius employer stayed in U.S. federal court. A ship's master beaten by an unruly crew offshore Angola, whose Jones Act and unseaworthiness verdict was affirmed on appeal — Roberts v. Rigdon Marine. Different countries, different defendants — the same willingness to fight the jurisdictional battle to the end.
The firm also co-counsels with lawyers handling these cases worldwide. If you are a foreign national hurt on an offshore job anywhere in the world — or a lawyer abroad evaluating one of these cases — it is worth a conversation before anyone accepts that nothing can be done.
What to protect while it still exists.
Cross-border evidence disperses fast. Securing it is the first priority.
The contracts, day rates, safety policies, and correspondence that tie the job to its Texas and U.S. decision-makers are the backbone of the jurisdictional fight. Counsel should move to preserve them at once.
Make sure a written incident report is created, and keep your own copy of anything you sign or are shown.
See a doctor promptly — at home or abroad — and describe exactly how the injury happened to every provider. An honest, contemporaneous record is the backbone of the case.
Foreign workers are often pressed to sign releases or settlement papers quickly, sometimes in a second language. A seaman's release obtained by pressure or without fair understanding can be challenged — but it is far better to get advice before signing.
Common questions
From our cases
What happens when you text us
Tell us what happened — in your own words, as much or as little as you want.
We review it free. You learn whether maritime law protects you and what your options actually are.
You decide. Nothing is filed, and no one contacts your employer, unless you choose to move forward.
Your conversation with us is confidential. There is no fee unless we win. Hablamos español.
Reach out even if…
- You think the accident was partly your fault — under the Jones Act, your own fault reduces a recovery but does not bar it.
- You already gave a statement or signed something — a release signed under pressure can be challenged.
- You still work for the company — talking to a lawyer is confidential, and retaliation for pursuing a claim can itself be actionable.
- You’re not sure your case is “big enough” — that’s exactly what a free review is for.
Foreign worker, Texas company? Don't take "no claim" as the final word.
Doyle Dennis Avery LLP represents foreign nationals and U.S. workers injured offshore anywhere in the world where the chain of responsibility runs through Texas — and co-counsels with lawyers handling these cases worldwide. A case review by phone or video costs nothing, and there is no obligation.
Call (713) 571-1146This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether a U.S. court has jurisdiction, whether Texas is the proper forum, whether a forum-selection or arbitration clause is enforceable, and which nation's law applies all depend on the specific facts. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP · Houston, Texas. This is attorney advertising.
