Explosion Attorneys in San Antonio

Why San Antonio Explosion Victims Choose Arnold & Itkin

Most injury firms settle fast and avoid trial. We don’t. Every case we take is prepared as if it will go before a jury because that preparation is what forces corporations to answer for their negligence. Large industrial defendants arrive with entire legal departments built to minimize their exposure. Our team outworks and outmaneuvers them.

Across practice areas, our firm has taken on some of the largest corporations in the world, including Johnson & Johnson, Union Pacific, and Bayer/Monsanto, and won. We bring that same approach to explosion cases against refinery operators, chemical plant owners, pipeline companies, and equipment manufacturers. We don't back down once we take your case, and we don't stop until we've pursued every available avenue. No matter what.

Explosion Risks in the San Antonio Area

San Antonio sits at the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale, one of the most heavily drilled oil and gas plays in the United States. That concentration of drilling, pipeline, and refining activity means explosion risks here go well beyond a gas leak at a single building. The regional footprint runs from smaller facilities inside Bexar County to the Valero Three Rivers refinery to the south and the major Corpus Christi complex, tied together by the pipeline network moving Eagle Ford crude through the area. Workers in the surrounding area face daily exposure to conditions that, when safety is ignored, can turn deadly.

Explosions in and around San Antonio can occur at:

• Refineries and chemical plants, where high-temperature processes, flammable feedstocks, and complex piping systems create conditions in which a single failure can trigger a catastrophic explosion.
• Oilfield and pipeline sites, where pressure systems, flammable gases, and aging equipment combine under production pressure.
• Industrial and manufacturing facilities, where neglected equipment and rushed operations create ignition risks.
• Residential and commercial properties, where gas leaks from faulty lines or appliances can cause structural explosions.

The causes often trace back to the same pattern: neglected equipment, inadequate maintenance, ignored safety protocols, and operators cutting corners on process safety. These aren’t accidents. They’re the predictable result of decisions companies made, and those companies can be held responsible.

What Causes Explosion Accidents

Industrial and residential explosions typically result from preventable failures rather than truly unforeseeable events. 

Common causes include:

• Vapor cloud explosions (VCEs). When flammable gases or vapors escape from ruptured piping, storage tanks, or process equipment, they can form clouds that ignite catastrophically upon reaching an ignition source. VCEs at refineries and chemical plants have caused some of the deadliest workplace explosions in U.S. history, including the 2005 BP Texas City refinery disaster.
• Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions (BLEVEs). When a pressurized vessel containing a liquid at temperatures above its boiling point ruptures, the sudden pressure release causes an explosive expansion. BLEVEs commonly involve propane tanks, tanker trucks, and rail cars.
• Process safety management failures. OSHA's Process Safety Management standard (29 CFR 1910.119) requires refineries, chemical plants, and other facilities handling highly hazardous chemicals to implement comprehensive safety programs. When operators fail to properly manage change, conduct hazard analyses, or maintain equipment, catastrophic explosions can result.
• Dust explosions. Fine combustible dust suspended in air, whether from grain, sugar, metal, wood, or chemical particulates, can ignite explosively when concentration and ignition conditions align. Dust explosions have devastated grain elevators, food processing plants, and metal fabrication facilities.
• Hot work incidents. Welding, cutting, and grinding produce sparks and heat that can ignite flammable atmospheres when hot work permits and pre-work atmospheric testing are ignored.
• Gas leaks from corroded or damaged infrastructure. Aging pipelines, faulty gas fittings, and unmarked utility strikes during excavation can release natural gas or other flammable gases into buildings and confined spaces where a spark or open flame triggers explosion.
• Defective equipment. Faulty pressure relief valves, defective sensors, poorly designed heat exchangers, and other equipment failures have caused fatal explosions, including the 2013 Williams Olefins plant explosion in Louisiana.

Common Injuries in Explosion Accidents

Explosions produce a distinctive injury pattern shaped by the blast wave, thermal effects, and flying debris. 

Survivors commonly suffer:

• Severe burns (thermal, chemical, and electrical)
• Traumatic brain injuries from blast overpressure
• Blast lung and other primary blast injuries to the lungs, ears, and internal organs
• Hearing loss from acoustic trauma
• Amputations from secondary blast effects and structural collapse
• Crush injuries and orthopedic trauma from building or equipment collapse
• PTSD and other psychological injuries from surviving a catastrophic event

Many explosion survivors face months or years of medical treatment, multiple surgeries, and permanent disability. Documenting the full future cost of these injuries is essential to any claim.

Who Can Be Held Liable After an Explosion

Explosion cases in the San Antonio area often involve multiple layers of responsibility, from the corporations that operate refineries and plants to the contractors, equipment manufacturers, and pipeline operators whose failures set the stage for disaster. Establishing a claim requires showing that a party owed a duty of care, breached it, and caused the resulting harm. Explosion liability isn’t limited to a single party.  Depending on the facts, multiple defendants may share responsibility, and pursuing all of them often produces the strongest outcome.

Potentially liable parties in a San Antonio explosion case may include:

• Facility and refinery operators responsible for maintaining safe process conditions and complying with OSHA's Process Safety Management standard.
• Employers who failed to provide adequate safety training, enforce hot work permit requirements, or protect workers from known hazards.
• General contractors and subcontractors who created or ignored unsafe conditions on multi-employer worksites.
• Equipment manufacturers whose defective valves, pressure vessels, sensors, or other components failed under normal operating conditions.
• Pipeline operators whose neglect of corroded or aging infrastructure allowed flammable material to escape.
• Property owners who failed to maintain safe gas systems, electrical systems, or storage facilities.
• Engineering firms whose unsafe process designs or inadequate safety reviews contributed to catastrophic failures.

Texas law also creates an important distinction for injured workers. Many oilfield, refinery, and industrial employers in the state are non-subscribers who have opted out of the workers' compensation system entirely. Workers injured at non-subscriber employers can file a direct personal injury lawsuit that allows recovery for pain and suffering and other damages beyond what workers' comp provides. Even when workers' comp does apply, third-party claims against contractors, equipment manufacturers, or other responsible parties may still be available. 

Multiple responsible parties can be pursued simultaneously.

When an Explosion Accident Is Fatal

Explosions produce some of the highest fatality rates of any workplace incident. The BP Texas City explosion killed 15 workers. The Deepwater Horizon blast killed 11. The Williams Olefins plant explosion killed two. Behind every fatality is a family left with grief, financial hardship, and unanswered questions about how a preventable tragedy was allowed to occur.

Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.004, the surviving spouse, parents, and children of a person killed in an explosion may file a wrongful death lawsuit against the responsible parties. Those claims can seek compensation for funeral and burial expenses, lost financial support, loss of companionship and guidance, and the mental anguish caused by the loss. Our attorneys have handled wrongful death claims arising from many of the most devastating industrial explosions in recent history.

Explosion Cases We’ve Won

Our record in explosion litigation isn't theoretical. We represented several workers injured in the March 2005 BP Texas City refinery explosion, which killed 15 workers and injured roughly 180 others. That case established our track record in refinery litigation, and it's the kind of high-stakes work we've continued to handle for injured workers and their families across Texas ever since.

Our explosion verdicts and settlements include:

• $254 million settlement for workers injured in a mass-casualty chemical plant explosion.
• $193 million settlement for two offshore workers injured in a pipeline explosion.
• $177.5 million settlement for workers burned in an industrial explosion.
• $154 million settlement for victims of an explosion at a chemical processing facility.
• $141 million verdict against five defendants for survivors of a plant explosion.
• $125 million settlement for the widow of a dredge worker killed in an explosion.
• $120 million settlement for workers seriously injured in a refinery explosion.
• $90 million settlement for a Texas truck driver severely burned in a plant explosion.

That is only a small portion of our case results related to explosions. There are dozens of others.

These results reflect what it means to prepare every case for trial.

Recognition in Catastrophic Injury & Mass Tort Law

Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin are members of the Inner Circle of Advocates, a group limited to 100 of the best plaintiff’s lawyers in the nation. Jason was elected President of the Inner Circle in 2026. Arnold & Itkin holds Tier 1 rankings in Best Law Firms® by Best Lawyers® in Houston for Personal Injury Litigation for Plaintiffs and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions for Plaintiffs. Our attorneys have also been selected to the National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers. That recognition reflects the trial capability we bring to every case, including the industrial explosion matters we handle in and around San Antonio.

No Fees Unless We Win Your Case

After an explosion, the last thing you should be weighing is whether you can afford a lawyer. We work on a contingency fee basis: We cover all litigation expenses up front, and you owe us nothing unless we win a verdict or settlement on your behalf. Carrying that financial risk is part of our commitment to every client we represent.

We also know that legal representation after a catastrophic injury has to go beyond paperwork. Our team helps clients access the medical care they need while their case moves forward, and we treat every client as a person, not a file, at every step of the process.

Talk to an Explosion Injury Lawyer in San Antonio Today

Explosion claims involve complex liability, multiple defendants, and corporations that move quickly to protect themselves. Time matters. Texas gives most personal injury claims a two-year statute of limitations, but the practical window for preserving evidence is much shorter. Refinery and industrial accident scenes get cleaned up, equipment gets replaced, and witnesses scatter. The sooner you have an attorney working on your case, the better positioned you are to preserve evidence and build a strong claim.