An oil and gas worker in Weld County thrown 27 feet in a 2019 tank explosion won a $30 million federal jury judgment last week against a Wyoming field services company.
Steven Straughen, from Idaho but working on a Weld County well pad serviced by BHS Inc., lost a leg after the explosion and will require future surgeries, including knee and hip replacements, his attorneys say.
Now Straughen could become one of the public faces of a push to lift Colorado statutory caps on pain and suffering awards. The U.S. District Court for Colorado jury gave $15 million of Straughen’s award for pain, suffering and mental anguish, but current law dating to the 1980s limits personal injury awards in that category to about $600,000. Straughen, an Air Force veteran and avid outdoorsman who was 36 at the time of the explosion, may never see half his judgment against BHS.
Straughen said Wednesday he hopes there’s a chance to appeal for access to more of the award, but that he believes the jury award is proof “the system worked the way it’s intended.”
“At the end of the day, it’s still a lot of money, I still have no room to complain. It’s an incredible amount. It’s very much a blessing,” said Straughen, who said the money will help him continue to rehabilitate and get back to more activities with his kids.
Straughen’s attorney, Kurt Zaner, said trial lawyers are considering pushing for a ballot measure to eliminate the Colorado cap on such pain and suffering awards. Language for such a measure has been filed with the Colorado Secretary of State for the 2024 election. The ballot measure, known as Initiative 150, is scheduled for a Title Board hearing on March 6. If approved, backers then could begin gathering signatures to get it on the November ballot.
Juries don’t hear about the caps
Straughen’s jury put in nine days of hard work listening to expert testimony and difficult medical information, Zaner said. But juries are not allowed to hear about the pain and suffering cap before deliberating.
“They spent their time there and they had no idea that there’s this artificial damage cap, but some legislators from the 1980s decided what Steve’s pain and suffering could be for his years of pain and suffering, it’s really unfortunate,” Zaner said. “They had no idea that half of the jury verdict that they think that Steve needs for the rest of his life will likely just go away. It’s just a real miscarriage of justice.”
Straughen was awarded $10 million for loss of potential income, $5 million for physical impairment and disfigurement, and the $15 million in noneconomic, pain and suffering damages, Zaner said. Straughen’s wife, Ashley, and well-inspection partner Richard Williams were also initial plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Williams settled earlier, and Ashley dropped her part of the claim, Zaner said.
In addition to working to lift the systemic caps, Zaner said he will be filing motions in Straughen’s case to argue the Colorado caps should not apply.
Straughen was working in 2019 as an inspector at a well pad for another oilfield services company. He was inspecting the top of a tank supplied by BHS Inc., a Wyoming company with a base in Utah, according to the initial complaint. (The Colorado Sun has reached out to BHS attorneys for comment on the judgment, and will update this story with any additional information.)
Straughen’s working partner noticed steam in the area, which is unusual, Straughen said, so he asked him to shut down valves to isolate the oil chemicals.
“I turn my head from that and look at the tank I’m standing on, and it exploded right in front of me. I just remember the boom, and an orange flash, the next thing I remember I’m up in the air and I can see the Denver skyline, and a car parked on the other side of the walls they built around the location. And I could see the ground in front of me and I just remember thinking, you know, don’t hit your head, land on your feet. And my next memory after that is in the hospital,” Straughen said.
The initial federal court complaint said BHS had delivered defective tanks to the site, and that pinholes and other badly maintained equipment allowed oxygen to mix in with volatile chemicals. That explosive mixture was set off by a nearby burner meant to safely vent the chemicals.
An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Straughen was thrown 27 feet laterally, in addition to the 10-foot height of the tank.
Straughen said he was rehabilitating from the initial injuries for years, hoping to save a severely damaged foot, but was eventually advised part of his leg needed to come off to continue recovery. His children were 2 years old and 2 months old at the time of the explosion.
“I essentially broke my right ankle, my right knee, my left hip, open book pelvic fractures it’s called, my back in a few places, broke all of my ribs. Broke my jaw, hit my head pretty good, some damage to internal organs as well. It’s hard to say one thing or another has been the most limiting factor, because when you put it all together it makes them this disastrous cocktail that is just a very physically limiting factor in day to day life,” he said.