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Yetter Coleman Secures Complete Dismissal of Breach of Contract Claim On Behalf Of Helmerich & Payne

The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a complete dismissal of a breach of contract claim brought against our client Helmerich & Payne (H&P).

The plaintiff, an employee of Frank’s International, alleged that he was injured while working on H&P’s rig located on Encana Corporation’s (Encana) property. After initially bringing a negligence claim against Encana, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint to add H&P to the lawsuit even though the two-year statute of limitations for negligence had expired. The plaintiff thus filed a breach of contract claim against H&P based on a daywork drilling contract between H&P and Encana. Although the plaintiff’s employer entered into a contract with Encana to provide well casing services, neither the plaintiff nor his employer had a contract with H&P.

In granting our Motion to Dismiss, the Court held that the plaintiff could not establish he was a third-party beneficiary of the daywork drilling contract where he only pleaded facts showing he received incidental benefits from H&P’s obligations under the contract. These facts alone failed to provide that H&P and Encana clearly intended for the plaintiff to be a beneficiary.

The team representing Helmerich & Payne includes Collin Cox, Christopher Porter, and Rhuju Vasavada.