Split Supreme Court Revives Oil Rig Worker's Vicarious Liability Claim Against Employer

A divided Texas Supreme Court last week ruled that a worker may be able to hold his employer vicariously liable for the alleged negligence of his colleague while driving them from their work site to their employer-provided bunkhouse. J.C. Burchett, Steven Painter, Earl Wright and Albert Carillo all worked for Amerimex Drilling I, a contractor hired by Sandridge Energy to drill wells on the Longfellow Ranch in Pecos County. Amerimex typically provided mobile bunkhouses for its crews to use at drilling sites, but Sandridge wouldn’t let Amerimex put the bunkhouse on th...