Stutman team prepares for Mass Tort Action
As you know, on April 20, 2010, an explosion and subsequent fire occurred on the Deepwater Horizon, a Transocean Ltd. drilling rig leased to BP PLC. Two days later, on April 22, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig collapsed and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, causing significant amounts of crude oil to be released into the water from an undersea well. As a result of this collapse, approximately 210,000 gallons of crude oil are spilling into the Gulf of Mexico each day.As of now, it is extremely difficult to predict what types of damages your insureds may suffer as a result of this oil spill. Some losses will be realized immediately, while others may take years to arise. Nonetheless, it is believed that cleanup costs and damages resulting from this spill could reach billions of dollars and many of these costs may be passed on to the insurance industry. One avenue for recovery would be to pursue a traditional negligence claim against the responsible parties, which include BP, Transocean, Cameron International Corporation and Halliburton. The other, is to file a claim under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), which allows those whose property has been damaged to receive compensation.
Under the OPA, BP, as leaseholder of the well, bears responsibility for much of the costs and damages associated with the oil spill. BP will likely share these costs with its partners, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. However, under the OPA, BP’s liability damages are capped at $75 million for the entire event unless it can be shown that BP acted with gross negligence, willful misconduct or offended federal safety regulations. Even though Congress is considering the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act, which would raise the cap on liability damages to $10 billion, it is unclear how this legislation, if passed, would impact subrogated claims.
The Mass Tort Unit at the Law Offices of Robert A. Stutman, P.C. has already begun working with top oil rig safety and subsea engineers in the country to determine how the actions taken by BP and its partners constituted gross negligence. Some of these actions include, but are not limited to:
• BP’s decision to retain Transocean, even though BP knew that Britain’s Health and Safety Executive identified safety issues concerning Transocean’s blowout prevention equipment several years ago;
• BP’s failure to properly inspect the failed blowout prevention equipment before installation;
• BP’s failure to properly inspect the electrical communication line between Transocean’s oil rig and the failed blowout prevention equipment.
We believe it is imperative that the insurance industry be proactive and take steps to protect and preserve its subrogation rights. Ultimately, a mass tort action may need to be filed to preserve your claims and we are doing everything we can to prepare for that eventuality. For further information related to our investigation, please visit our website at www.stutmanlaw.com or call our office toll-free at 1-888-579-1144.