Orange County, TX — March 4, 2024, John May was fatally injured due to a work accident at around 2:00 p.m. at the Optimus Steel mill.
Investigators said they were called to the steel mill off I-10 and Old U.S. 90, east of Beaumont near Rose City.
Right now, the exact cause of the accident remains unconfirmed. Details say 61-year-old John May was working at Optimus Steel, LLC removing waste. While doing so, reports say May’s equipment caught fire. This resulted in May sustaining serious injuries for which EMS transported May to a hospital. He later died there.
No other injuries were reported. Additional circumstances surrounding the accident remain unavailable as investigations continue.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
I don’t know anything about this event beyond what’s in the news, but I do know how quickly a fatal work accident in Texas can go from bad to worse. The simple reason for that is Texas has the most complex Work Fatality Law in the country, which makes it difficult for the average worker or their family to even know which rules govern their particular accident.
If that’s not bad enough, employers generally don’t have much in the way of obligations in terms of helping a deceased worker’s family navigate this legal minefield. To complicate things even more, time matters. What I mean by this is that these different areas of the law all require a deceased worker’s family to take action within a specified period of time. This is really unfair to families who are grieving the loss of a loved one, but I know from my own experience litigating work fatality cases in Texas that there are many instances where a deceased worker’s loved ones lose their ability to exercise rights they possess under the law because they waited too long to act.
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