Nearly two years after the BP Gulf Oil Spill—and BP funded tourism commercials to the contrary—life is not back to normal for the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast residents. Food Safety News reports on the lack of recovery in the oyster industry. The article reports: Two years later, fourth generation oysterman Nick Collins said there is … Continue Reading
The New York Times reports that the Department of Justice has charged eight people with filing fraudulent damages claims related to the BP Oil Spill. The article describes some of the indictments: Among those charged were Cam T. Hang of Louisiana, who, according to the Justice Department, demanded $42,000 for business losses related to a … Continue Reading
It’s looking more and more like the big winners in the BP Oil Spill Litigation will be Ken Feinberg’s law firm Feinberg Rozen and defense lawyers. The WSJ Law Blog reported Monday that Plaintiff lawyers are heading for the exits: Plaintiffs’ attorneys who put money up front to hire experts are fretting about their investments, … Continue Reading
Want to be on an exclusive MDL plaintiffs’ steering committee? Then you need to be an attorney in a large plaintiffs firm—the type that generally does not exist in Mississippi. That’s my take away from reviewing the list of attorneys on the Plaintiffs’ steering committee in the BP Oil Spill MDL. Here is Judge Barbier’s … Continue Reading
A Monday article in the Wall Street Journal takes a look at the MDL process. The article noted that in MDL actions, plaintiff lawyers have to compete for the work: For plaintiffs’ attorneys the streamlining can be brutal. While hundreds of attorneys may be representing clients in the cases, judges typically pick only a handful … Continue Reading
The MDL Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled this week that the BP Oil Spill MDL is going to the Eastern District of Louisiana. Here is the Court’s Order. The judge will be Judge Carl Barbier. The MDL’s decision is good for the plaintiffs and great for Louisiana oil spill lawyers, both plaintiff and defense. It’s … Continue Reading
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal ran this editorial tilted “Mississippi Justice on Email”. The article makes a poor attempt to connect the Scruggs State Farm litigation to Attorney General Jim Hood’s request to Congress that it rewrite federal law to allow Mississippi to sue Gulf Oil Spill companies in state court. In attempting to make a connection that is … Continue Reading
The AP reports that while speaking in Pensacola this week, BP Oil Spill Fund Administrator Kenneth Feinberg urged people to find out what BP will pay them before filing a lawsuit: Feinberg also said there’s no reason for individuals affected by the massive Gulf of Mexico spill to file lawsuits – at least not yet. Feinberg … Continue Reading
There is a dispute brewing among Louisiana plaintiff lawyers over who will get to argue at the MDL Panel hearing on July 29, 2010 that all oil spill cases should be transferred to Louisiana. Some lawyers want New Orleans lawyer Russ Herman to argue for the Easter District of Louisiana at the hearing. That prompted this lengthy response email from Louisiana … Continue Reading
The Wall Street Journal ran this article on Thursday about plaintiffs’ lawyers and the BP oil spill. The article states: Plaintiffs’ attorneys are scrambling to avoid being frozen out by a $20 billion fund aimed at compensating Gulf of Mexico oil-spill victims outside of court. According to Louisiana attorney Daniel Becnel: "People are firing their … Continue Reading
The Sun-Herald reports that BP didn’t consider hurricanes in its oil spill response plan: Rep. Edward Markey says BP’s disaster response plan for an oil spill doesn’t mention hurricanes or tropical storms. Markey says the omission is yet another example of what the oil giant was not prepared to handle. The Massachusetts Democrat’s comments came … Continue Reading
Today’s Wall Street Journal contained an article on plans that states have to recover oil spill related losses from BP. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood seems to have a handle on the scope of the possible litigation: Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has sought advice from state university researchers, economists and lawyers to assess the … Continue Reading
As Louisiana companies ask a federal judge to lift the ban on deepwater drilling, the issue of whether to continue drilling in the Gulf following the BP Horizon disaster is a big topic of conversation. On Sunday the Clarion-Ledger ran competing opinion articles on whether offshore drilling should be banned. Louis Miller of the Sierra Club … Continue Reading
I previously posted about Attorney General Jim Hood’s State lawsuit against Microsoft and the $8.3 million attorneys fee paid to a group of lawyers that included Jackson lawyer Brent Hazzard, Susman Godfrey of Houston and David Boies’ firm. The prior posts are here, here, and here. It looks like Jake and Elwood are putting the band … Continue Reading
I think of the comic strip Dilbert when I think of BP’s gaffes related to the Gulf oil spill. But this video captures my perception of BP (and most other large corporations): … Continue Reading
According to this AP article, less than half the federal judges in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas are eligible to preside over oil spill cases due to connections with the oil industry. The article relies on 2008 disclosure forms. The article states: Thirty-seven of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast … Continue Reading
With Governor Haley Barbour downplaying the signficance of the oil spill, MLR located this rare video footage of Barbour from his college days (play video): … Continue Reading
On Friday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals did about the most bizarre thing that I can recall an appellate court ever doing in the Comer v. Murphy Oil case: dismissed an appeal without deciding it because it did not have a quorum to decide the case. Needless to say, it’s caused a huge stir that you … Continue Reading
As expected, Southern District Judge Sul Ozerden has begun staying the Gulf Oil Spill cases pending a decision on whether an MDL will be created in the litigation. Here is one of Judge Ozerden’s orders. I am not aware of any of the defendants filing a substantive response to the complaints before entry of the stay orders. … Continue Reading
The Wall Street Journal has been publishing fantastic articles on the events leading to the Horizon Rig explosion. This article yesterday focuses on faulty BP decision making that led to the explosion. An article today focuses on the chaos on the rig that was partially caused by chain of command problems. Here is the link … Continue Reading
As frustration mounts on the Gulf Coast, and at the White House, here is a suggestion for BP: (play video)… Continue Reading
There have not been any major developments in oil spill litigation in Mississippi in the last few weeks. More cases have been filed, but that is expected and more will be filed going forward. I am not aware of a defendant filing an answer to the complaints yet. BP has been filing motions to stay … Continue Reading
A 60 Minutes story paints a scathing picture of operations on the Deepwater Horizon in the days and hours leading up to the fatal explosion and resulting oil spill. The main source of the report was Mike Williams, Transocean’s chief electronics technician on the rig. Significant points from the story include: With the schedule slipping, Williams … Continue Reading
The Wall Street Journal reports on the high stakes oil spill blame game being played between BP, Transocean and Halliburton. So who is to blame? BP? Couldn’t be. BP blames Transocean’s blow-out preventer: BP, the well owner, blames the failure of a big set of valves on the sea floor, known as the blowout preventer, … Continue Reading
