Case Histories

Signa has provided expert witness services and graphics in numerous litigation files. Listed below are some of the types of cases investigated:

Personal Injury

Underbalanced drilling on an oil well was in progress when a failure in a BOP stack element occurred. This resulted in a blowout causing extensive property damage and injuries to the crew.
During Underbalanced drilling operations, the rubber sealing element in a BOP stack component failed, causing property damage and an alleged personal injury.
A well blowout occurred while workers were trying to come out of a hole to make a bit change, when the well kicked. Workers tried to put the Kelly back on but were unsuccessful. When the well kicked, well was blowing sand, rocks and gas up through the crown and eventually ignited. A BOP installed on the well was not shut in. Plaintiff claimed foot injuries. Regulatory agency reported on defendant's right to dump waste material in specified area.
While running casing in the hole, a joint of casing fell out of position during makeup and injured a member of the casing crew. The drill rig derrick was allegedly not centered over the hole, making the handling of casing hazardous.
A roughneck (drilling rig worker) was allegedly injured while changing the rubber element on a rotating blowout preventer.

Signa Engineers were asked to utilize their experience in oilfield drilling and knowledge of wellsite equipment to testify what had caused a blowout and subsequent destruction of an oil well. Testimony involved clarifying drilling fluids, drillstring depth, describing downhole equipment and elaborating on alleged destructive elements that caused the fire.
Signa engineers were asked to review a well in Webb County,Texas, for possible product liability in regards to a 10,000 psi Shaffer blowout preventer that two pipe rams had reportedly failed in while trying to control a flowing oil & gas well.
An oil and gas operator had initiated the turnkey drilling of a well. During that operation, a section of the bottom hole assembly (drilling jars) failed, allegedly causing a loss of money (profit) for the turnkey contractor.
A tool failure was alleged to have caused the loss of a constructed wellbore.
Signa engineers were asked to review a well in Webb County,Texas, for possible product liability in regards to a 10,000 psi Shaffer blowout preventer that two pipe rams had failed in while trying to control a flowing oil & gas well.
Signa graphic designers illustrated a case involving an accident at a wellsite by producing graphic illustrations needed for a basic education and introduction of the pertinent equipment and terms in the case.

Signa reviewed the case of dispute over who was the true inventor of a drilling process after a patent was issued for that technique.
Signa reviewed extensive information on two companies' multilateral drilling processes to determine if the patent had been infringed upon. The engineering staff did extensive multilateral application studies and worked with an economist on economic projections (10-year span) to determine how significant a monetary setback the patent holder would have suffered.
Signa engineers were asked to answer technical questions in a patent case involving the alleged use of numerous patented well-treatment services by another company. The engineering team had to analyze well treatment service records to determine if the patent had been infringed upon.
Signa Engineers were asked to utilize their special expertise and knowledge in the subject matter of rotating blowout preventer equipment in a patent infringement case.

Groundwater and soil contamination case that involved a site where oil & gas operations were located. Signa's engineers and litigation staff combined their ingenuity in the areas of petroleum engineering, geology, environmental science and geohydrology to resolve the case.
A well blowout occurred while workers were trying to come out of a hole to make a bit change, when the well kicked. Workers tried to put the Kelly back on but were unsuccessful. When the well kicked, well was blowing sand, rocks and gas up through the crown and eventually ignited. A BOP installed on the well was not shut in. Plaintiff claimed foot injuries. Regulatory agency reported on defendant's right to dump waste material in specified area.

Signa Engineering Corp.