You went to work and came home injured, or did not come home at all. Now there are forms, a company nurse, an adjuster on the phone, and no clear answer about who pays for any of it. A San Angelo workplace accident lawyer can tell you which kind of claim you actually have, because in Texas that depends on a decision your employer made before you ever got hurt.
Templeton Law Firm represents injured workers and their families across San Angelo, Tom Green County and West Texas in negligence claims against non-subscribing employers and in claims against third parties who caused the injury. Scott Templeton has practiced injury law here since 1998, and there is no attorney's fee unless the firm recovers compensation.
Call 325-482-9120 to find out where you stand.
Does your employer carry workers' compensation?
That one fact determines almost everything about your options. Texas is the only state that lets most private employers opt out of the workers' compensation system entirely, and a meaningful share of them do.
According to the Texas Department of Insurance survey of employer participation, roughly 75 percent of Texas private-sector employers carried workers' compensation coverage in 2022, meaning about one in four did not. Around 83 percent of private-sector employees worked for a covered employer, the highest share in twelve years.
An employer without coverage is called a non-subscriber. If yours is one, you are not limited to a benefits schedule. You have the right to sue for the full value of your losses.
| Employer subscribes | Employer is a non-subscriber | |
| How you get paid | Workers' compensation benefits | A negligence lawsuit against the employer |
| Do you prove fault? | No | Yes, you must prove employer negligence |
| Pain and suffering | Not available | Available |
| Employer's usual defenses | Not applicable | Mostly stripped away by statute |
What happens when your employer has no workers' comp?
Texas takes away most of the employer's defenses. That is the trade-off for opting out, and it is a significant advantage for the injured worker.
Under Texas Labor Code Section 406.033, a non-subscribing employer sued by an injured employee cannot argue that the employee was contributorily negligent, that the employee assumed the risk of injury or death, or that the injury was caused by a fellow employee's negligence.
Stripping those three defenses matters enormously. In an ordinary negligence case, being partly at fault reduces or eliminates recovery. Against a non-subscriber, your own carelessness is generally off the table.
What you still have to prove is that the employer, or someone acting within the scope of their employment, was negligent and that the negligence caused the injury. The employer can still defend on grounds that the injury was intentionally self-inflicted or that you were intoxicated at the time.
If my employer has workers' comp, can I still sue anyone?
Yes, just not usually your employer. Workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy against a covered employer under Labor Code Section 408.001, but that exclusivity does not extend to everyone else on the jobsite.
There are two important openings. The first is a third-party claim, which is a separate lawsuit against someone other than your employer whose negligence contributed to the injury. Texas law expressly preserves that right, while giving the workers' compensation carrier a subrogation interest in what you recover.
The second is narrow. Where a worker dies because of the employer's gross negligence or an intentional act, the surviving spouse and children may pursue exemplary damages despite the exclusive remedy rule.
Call 325-482-9120 and the firm will look at whether a third party belongs in your case.
Who else might be responsible for a workplace injury?
More parties than most injured workers expect. On a typical West Texas jobsite, several companies share the same space and none of them is your employer.
A property owner or operator who failed to make the site safe. A general contractor who controlled the work and ignored a hazard. A subcontractor whose crew created the danger. The manufacturer of a machine, tool, harness or vehicle that failed. A staffing agency. A maintenance or inspection company. A driver who hit you in a company truck.
Two examples show how much that matters. A pumper injured by a valve failure at a lease site may have a claim against the operator that owns the location and against the company that manufactured the valve, even though neither one signs his paycheck. A laborer struck by a load on a commercial build may have a claim against the crane subcontractor and the general contractor who controlled site safety.
Those defendants carry their own insurance, and their coverage is often far larger than anything available through an employer alone. When equipment is what failed, the claim frequently overlaps with a defective product claim in San Angelo, and the two are pursued together rather than in sequence.
What workers' compensation does not pay for
The part that usually hurts most. Workers' compensation is a no-fault system, which means you get benefits without proving anyone was careless, but the benefits are capped and narrow.
| Type of loss | Workers' compensation | Non-subscriber or third-party claim |
| Medical treatment | Covered | Recoverable |
| Lost wages | Partial, on a benefit schedule | Full wage loss recoverable |
| Future earning capacity | Limited | Recoverable |
| Pain and physical impairment | Not compensated | Recoverable |
| Mental anguish | Not compensated | Recoverable |
| Loss to the family | Limited death benefits | Wrongful death damages available |
For a worker with a permanent injury, the difference between those two columns is often the difference between staying afloat and losing the house.
What are the deadlines after a work injury in Texas?
There are several, and they run on different clocks. Missing any one of them can close a door that will not reopen.
| Action | Deadline |
| Report the injury to your employer | 30 days from the injury or from when you knew it was work-related |
| File a workers' compensation claim with the state | 1 year from the injury |
| File a personal injury lawsuit | 2 years from the injury |
| Employer reports a fatality to OSHA | 8 hours |
| Employer reports an amputation, loss of an eye or an in-patient hospitalization to OSHA | 24 hours |
Those OSHA reporting rules come from the federal reporting requirements, and an employer's failure to follow them can itself become relevant evidence.
What kinds of work injuries happen around San Angelo?
The ones that come with the work this region does. Oilfield services, agriculture, ranching, construction and freight all carry serious injury exposure, and Texas leads the country in workplace fatalities.
Texas recorded 557 fatal work injuries in 2024. Transportation incidents caused 242 of them, roughly 43 percent, and construction accounted for 125 deaths while natural resources and mining accounted for 62, according to the Texas Department of Insurance census of fatal occupational injuries.
The injury patterns behind those numbers are familiar here. Falls from derricks, tanks, roofs and scaffolding. Being struck by pipe, tools or swinging loads. Caught-in and crush injuries from augers, PTO shafts, presses and unguarded machinery. Vehicle and heavy equipment collisions on lease roads and highways. Burns, blowouts and chemical exposure. Electrocution from contact with overhead lines.
What should you do after getting hurt at work?
Report it in writing, get treated, and preserve what you can. The first 48 hours shape the record the rest of the case is built on.
Tell a supervisor in writing, even if you already told them verbally, and keep a copy for yourself. See a doctor and describe exactly how the injury happened. Photograph the equipment, the location and any hazard before it gets cleaned up or repaired.
Get the names of coworkers who saw it. Write down your own account the same day, while the details are still sharp. And be careful with recorded statements to an adjuster before you know which type of claim you have.
How a work injury case gets built
In stages, and the early ones matter most. The work is less about arguing and more about locking down facts before they change.
Establishing what the company knew
Negligence cases against employers and contractors are won with records, not opinions. Prior incident reports, safety meeting minutes, maintenance logs, training files, inspection records and internal hazard complaints frequently show the danger was identified long before it injured anyone.
Those documents live with the company, which is why a written preservation demand goes out early. Jobsite conditions get repaired and video gets overwritten on a schedule measured in days.
Identifying every party and every policy
A serious injury usually costs more than one company's coverage will pay. Mapping the contracts between the operator, the general contractor, the subcontractors and the staffing agency reveals both who was responsible for safety and which insurers are on the hook.
Putting a real number on the loss
A permanent injury is a lifetime of consequences, and the number has to account for that. That means projected future medical care, reduced earning capacity across a working life, household services you can no longer perform, and the physical and mental toll the injury carries.
Guessing at those figures undervalues cases. Life care planners and vocational and economic professionals build them from evidence.
Why bring a work injury case to this office
Because you get the lawyer, not a case number. Scott Templeton was raised in San Angelo, earned his B.A. in English and History from Angelo State University and his Juris Doctor from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio in 1998, and has spent more than 25 years working through the medical bills, insurance policies and liability questions that follow a serious injury.
Cases filed here are heard in the Tom Green County district courts at the courthouse on West Beauregard. Knowing the local courts and the companies that operate in this basin matters when a corporate defendant is betting on delay.
Serious work injuries often develop into a broader San Angelo personal injury claim once every responsible party is identified.
Workplace injury questions people ask
How do I find out whether my employer is a non-subscriber?
Employers who opt out are required to notify employees and to file notice with the state, and the Texas Department of Insurance maintains that information. Your pay stub, your onboarding paperwork and any posted workplace notice are good starting points, and the firm can confirm it for you.
My employer has an injury benefit plan. Is that the same as workers' comp?
No. Many non-subscribers offer a private occupational injury plan instead. Those plans are written by the employer, often require you to report within a very short window, and frequently ask you to sign an arbitration agreement or a release. Read it before you sign it.
I am an independent contractor. Do I have any claim?
Possibly. Contractor status limits some options but does not eliminate a claim against a negligent property owner, general contractor or equipment manufacturer. How the relationship actually worked in practice matters more than the label on the paperwork.
What if the accident was partly my own fault?
Against a non-subscribing employer, your own negligence is generally not a defense at all. Against a third party, Texas allows recovery as long as your share of responsibility is not more than half.
Can my family bring a claim if a worker was killed on the job?
Yes. A surviving spouse, children and parents may pursue a wrongful death claim against responsible third parties, and against a non-subscribing employer directly. Where a covered employer's gross negligence caused the death, exemplary damages may be available.
Get an answer before you sign anything
Company forms, benefit plan paperwork and recorded statements all arrive quickly after a work injury, and most of them are drafted to protect someone other than you.
Templeton Law Firm is at 905 S. Abe Street in San Angelo, open Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM. Call 325-482-9120 or tell the firm what happened through the contact page for a free case review.