DALLAS – The family of Parker Waldridge, one of five workers killed in the Jan. 22 gas well explosion near Quinton, Oklahoma, has hired the Texas trial law firm Lyons & Simmons, LLP, to investigate the deadliest oil and gas drilling disaster since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Mr. Waldridge was an incredible man who will be terribly missed by his family,” said Lyons & Simmons co-founder Michael Lyons. “While we mourn the tremendous loss experienced by all the families impacted by this tragedy, there are a number of questions raised about the circumstances of this explosion and what could have been done to prevent it.”
According to published reports, Mr. Waldridge, 60, of Crescent, Oklahoma, was among the workers trapped in an operations room when the first of two explosions occurred at the well site operated by Oklahoma City-based Red Mountain Energy. The drilling contractor was Houston-based Patterson-UTI Energy Inc., a company with an extensive history of fatal accidents and safety violations.
The resulting inferno was so intense that the site was inaccessible to emergency workers until the following day. An initial report by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board indicated that rig workers were preparing to change out a drill bit at the time of the explosion, but the investigation is not yet complete.
“The Waldridge family and the families of the other victims deserve to know the truth about what happened,” said Mr. Lyons. “Oil field work has inherent dangers, but this disaster appears to have been preventable if safety had been the paramount concern of this operation.”
Lyons & Simmons represents clients in a broad range of complex personal injury and wrongful death claims, including cases involving the oil and gas industry.
Lyons & Simmons, LLP, has offices in Dallas and Houston and maintains a reputation as one of the state’s premier trial boutique firms. Its lawyers routinely handle high-stakes litigation of all kinds, including matters involving personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, business disputes, professional liability, real estate, securities, and construction. To learn more, visit www.lyons-simmons.com.
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