Foster v. Casey Industrial, Inc. et al.

On September 19, 2025, Michael Foster, a 34-year-old welder, was fatally injured at a Casey Industrial construction site in Baytown, Texas, when an unsecured pipe rack collapsed. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging gross negligence and willful violations of OSHA safety standards. The complaint asserted that Casey Industrial failed to provide proper fall protection, ignored known structural instability, and pressured workers to skip safety protocols to meet deadlines. The case drew immediate attention from federal regulators and labor unions, highlighting repeated safety failures within large-scale industrial contracting.

In April 2026, the parties reached a confidential $12.5 million settlement without admission of liability. OSHA concurrently issued citations and proposed $1.2 million in penalties against Casey Industrial for willful and serious violations.

Whether Casey Industrial and its co-defendants knowingly disregarded critical safety regulations, causing the fatal collapse, and whether parent company MasTec could be held liable for systemic safety failures at the subsidiary level.

The case intensified scrutiny of industrial contractors’ safety cultures, especially firms with prior OSHA citations. It spurred calls for stronger general contractor oversight, mandatory safety stand-downs, and enhanced corporate accountability for parent companies of high-risk subsidiaries. Labor advocates cited the settlement as leverage in demanding stricter federal workplace safety legislation.