Like the Spill itself, Gulf Oil Spill Litigation Will be Huge
Five years after Katrina the Gulf Coast is getting its teeth kicked in—again. But the Gulf Oil Spill could be even bigger than Katrina in terms of the economic impact and the area affected by the disaster.
How Bad Will it Get?
That’s the big question right now. Straight-shooting Congressman Gene Taylor viewed the spill Saturday and said that it’s not Armageddon. But the question remains: how bad will it be by the time they get the leaking well capped?
Clarion-Ledger writer Bobby Cleveland called the leak a “volcano” of oil:
Think about it: 200,000 gallons a day. That's 139 gallons a minute, 8,333 gallons an hour, 1.4 million gallons a week and 6 million gallons a month.
Reports are that it will take at least two months to cap the leak. There is also speculation that the Gulf Stream will quickly carry the oil up the entire Atlantic Coast. So it could get real bad.
Lawyers Not Waiting to Find Out
In Mississippi and surrounding states, lawyers are not waiting to find out how bad it’s going to get. As of Friday, there had been over thirty lawsuits filed in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Many of the suits were filed as class actions, even though it is debatable as to whether a class action can effectively deal with the individualized damage issues that these cases could raise.
I located two federal court class actions filed in Mississippi on Friday. One case (Parker v. Transocean, et al.) was filed by Biloxi lawyer Buddy Gunn and includes a group of well-known Mississippi lawyers. Here is the Complaint.
Another case (Forte v. Cameron International, et al.) was filed by Bay St. Louis lawyer Edward Gibson with a smaller group of lawyers. Here is the Complaint.
Jackson attorney John Giddens is also known to be organizing a large group of plaintiffs and attorneys and will likely be filing suits in the near future.
There are also reports of out-of-state lawyers descending on the Gulf Coast in an effort to sign-up plaintiffs. Mississippi residents should be leery of out-of-state lawyers, who may be violating Mississippi laws regarding solicitation by attorneys.
The Litigation Will Probably be Huge
Katrina related litigation was huge in Mississippi. Early indications are that the oil spill litigation will be even bigger. Estimates are that the oil spill litigation could last ten years.
People who will suffer the economic affects of the spill include: the entire Gulf seafood industry, fishermen of all types, fishing boat charter operators, the tourism industry along the entire Gulf Coast, property owners, restaurant owners, fish market operators, insurance companies and others. Here is a Sunday Clarion-Ledger article discussing the impact.
There will be a lot of legal work for a lot of lawyers. Defense lawyers will be scrambling just as hard as plaintiff lawyers in the coming weeks to lock up clients. And unlike plaintiff lawyers, defense lawyers will start seeing the revenue from the litigation almost immediately.
