Potential Damages After a Texas City Refinery Explosion

The potential damages available to you after a Texas City refinery explosion may cover your medical bills, loss of income, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other tangible and intangible losses.

Our experienced Texas City refinery explosion lawyer can evaluate your case. They may analyze your refinery explosion losses. Based on these, they may advise you to pursue economic and non-economic damages.

Potential Economic Damages After a Texas City Refinery Explosion

The potential economic damages that you could recover after a Texas City refinery explosion may be used for your monetary losses. Such damages can include:

• The costs of your hospital stays, doctors’ visits, medications, physical therapy, surgeries, and other medical bills for your explosion injuries
• Lost wages if your injuries prevent you from working
• Diminished earning capacity if your injuries keep you from performing at the same level or holding the same job you had before the explosion
• Burial and funeral expenses if you lose a family member in a fatal refinery explosion and are eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit on their behalf

Your personal injury attorney can explain what damages may be available to you in a refinery explosion lawsuit. If you decide to sue, your lawyer can develop an argument designed to prove why economic damages and others are warranted.

Potential Non-Economic Damages After a Texas City Refinery Explosion

The potential non-economic damages that you can receive following a Texas City refinery explosion may be based on your subjective losses. Reasons you could be awarded compensation for your non-economic losses include:

• Loss of enjoyment of life if your explosion injuries prevent you from doing activities or other things that you enjoyed previously
• Disfigurement if your injuries contribute to permanent changes to your appearance and cause you to feel humiliation or embarrassment as a result
• Loss of consortium, which may be available to your spouse if your injuries disrupt your relationship with them and lead to a loss of companionship or affection
• Physical discomfort and other forms of pain and suffering that you experience due to your injuries

Refinery explosion lawyers may investigate your case. This can help your attorney estimate your non-economic damages and craft an argument designed to prove to a judge or jury why you should be awarded compensation for them.

Potential Punitive Damages After a Texas City Refinery Explosion

In some cases, punitive, or exemplary, damages may be awarded to those harmed in Texas City refinery explosions. These damages are defined in accordance with Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 41.001(5).

In Texas personal injury cases, exemplary damages are less commonly awarded than economic and non-economic damages. Per Texas law, punitive damages may be awarded in combination with compensation for economic and non-economic damages. A court will order a defendant to pay exemplary damages to punish them for gross negligence, malice, or fraud.

Generally, in most personal injury cases in Texas, there are no caps on economic damages, and non-economic damages are typically uncapped. However, with punitive damages, these are capped at the greater of $200,000 or double the economic damages plus non-economic damages (with the non-economic amount capped at $750,000).

Refinery explosion attorneys can craft an argument highlighting negligence. This argument may illustrate to a judge or jury that the defendant committed an act of carelessness or recklessness, which may have contributed to causing your refinery explosion and losses. If the court rules that the defendant’s actions were grossly negligent, you may be awarded economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.