BP hit by avalanche of compensation claims over US oil spill

Source: The Guardian

BP hit by avalanche of compensation claims over US oil spill

Business owners claim company ignored evidence of broken seal on Deepwater Horizon well

Andrew Clark in New York
Monday 31 May 2010 18.52 BST


While work continues to try to staunch the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, an avalanche of class action lawsuits is descending upon BP in courthouses from Texas to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

The suits include claims for loss of earnings, loss of enjoyment or property, or for bereavement suffered by families of the 11 workers killed when BP's Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and sank on 30 April.

-snip-

Mark Lanier, a Houston-based lawyer for one group of plaintiffs, said the litigation against BP would make the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska look like "an oil leak in a car".

"Honestly, this is a monstrosity, it's a tragedy," he told Texas Lawyer magazine. He said it might become the biggest legal battle in US history. "This is going to be, in my estimation, the largest tort we've had in this country."


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/31/bp-compensation-claims-us-oil-spill

You lost your livelihoods and the entire ecosystem of 5 states? Go F--- yourselves, the corporation is always right.

By the time it gets there, Fat Tony and his poodle Clarence may be gone, and it would be a whole new game.

Because this court will be right-wing and pro-corporation for two decades or more.

Fat Tony is in about as good a shape as Jerry Falwell. And unlike Falwell, Tony's spawn don't get to fill in. Besides, judging from Exxon Valdez, two decades to get to the SC is just about right.

this causes BP to go bankrupt! :grr:

Then, like Union Carbide after the Bhopal disaster, it will change it's name to some soft fuzzy sounding corporation like Beatrice, or Lulubelle or Gia Earth Mother technologies.
Scumbags. They own us and will do as they please and get away with it thru the stacked courts.

Every little bit helps toward the ultimate goal of driving them out of business.

per year

they should be bankrupted - but the people whose pension fund is invested in this - I dunno about them, and same goes for the average employee.

nudge nudge wink wink :cry: no measurement first month (really makes you go "wtf govt?"...), disputable & disputed one now, dispersants & blackout attempt

...will pay all legitimate claims... and this is the US, you knwo there's gonna be illegitimate...Tony Snow II on day 5 or so...

Who is gonna determine & use the true cost? A dude on theoildrum came with a 40 million per day cost for BP.
Said one of the major contributors : (fuck you) use 400 mil a day if you have to put a price on it.
Says the dude 'yeah but I was talking about cost for BP and using a billion so far / 25 days, you're pulling numbers out of thin air"
Good dude syas nothing, requotes bad dude, highlights "for BP" - and just says "yes"
boink