OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma Supreme Court says oil and natural gas companies can be sued when workers are injured or killed on the job, striking down part of a state law exempting them from such lawsuits.
The state's highest court handed down the ruling Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by the family of a worker who died after being burned at an Oklahoma County oil well site operated by Stephens Production Co.
Attorneys for Stephens argued that a workers' compensation law adopted by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2013 granted them immunity.
In an 8-0 ruling with one recusal, the Supreme Court upheld a district court judge who ruled the statute is an unconstitutional special law.
An attorney for Stephens, E. Edd Pritchett Jr., didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
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