BP civil lawsuits head for New Orleans

[maddezmom]

Source: Houston Chronicle

With BP's relief well operation on hold due to weather and a chance it won't happen at all, the epicenter of the Gulf oil spill's aftermath moved to New Orleans on Tuesday with a decision to consolidate hundreds of civil lawsuits there.

More than 300 lawsuits, including wrongful-death claims by families of the 11 workers killed in the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, will be heard by New Orleans-based U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, according to a ruling by a judicial panel.

"Without discounting the spill's effects on other states, if there is a geographic and psychological 'center of gravity' in this docket, then the Eastern District of Louisiana is closest to it," said the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Attorneys for BP and Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon and operated it under lease to BP, had hoped the cases would be consolidated in Houston. Plaintiffs' attorneys argued in a hearing before the panel last month in Boise, Idaho, that such a move would be unfair to spill victims.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/7148227.html

[NBachers]

1. So are they getting wrapped up in a nice tidy package so they can all get thrown out together?

Or are the most serious claims, like the 11 dead workers, going to provide the credibility and momentum to pull the rest of 'em along to a just conclusion?

Or do I not know what I'm talking about, and it can't happen that way?

I'm gladder it's in New Orleans than Houston.

[dipsydoodle]

2. do I not know what I'm talking about ?

Wouldn't worry about that. Its very days and anything at present is pure speculation either by the MSM, if they're bored , or blog writers most of whom only seem to have half a brain at best.

:hi: