Source:
The (New Orleans) Times-PicayuneThe 19th century maritime law that Transocean Ltd. cited in filing a lawsuit to limit its liability in the April 20 explosion of its Deepwater Horizon rig could also give the companies involved in the disaster an edge to move all the litigation surrounding the incident to Texas.
On May 13, Transocean filed a proceeding in Houston under an outmoded 1851 law known as the Limitation of Shipowner's Liability Act to limit its legal exposure to $26.8 million, or the value of the sunken rig and whatever freight it was carrying. The limitation of liability act also allows a vessel owner to consolidate all litigation over a shipping accident to a venue of its choosing, and like a bankruptcy filing, halts all proceedings in other courts.
In maritime law, a rig is considered a vessel. Attorneys say it's an uphill battle for vessel owners to successfully limit their liability in a such a proceeding, so the primary reason for filing may be to nudge the massive litigation that is expected over the rig explosion and oil leak to Houston.
"I think there was a considered thought process on behalf of BP and Transocean to hometown the litigation and do anything that they could do to get the litigation in Houston and out of Louisiana," said Scott Bickford, who filed the first lawsuit the day after the explosion in federal court in New Orleans on behalf of the family of a worker who was killed. "Why is this thing in Texas other than the fact that the wrong-doers are there? This is a terrible situation."
Read more:
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/legal_maneuvering_may_situate.html
The situation summed up in two sentences: "The center of the entire litigation will move away from Louisiana to a state that has absolutely no damage. The legal implications are you get Texas justice for Louisiana"
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