Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire first law suit just filed in Transocean/BP rig explosion

while the search is still going on, a grieving "widow" files her Jones Act death claim in federal court in New Orleans.....sure going to be awkward if her husband is picked up alive by the search, which is still ongoing. That biotch might get thrown through the wall of the trailer when he gets back to Mississippi, particularly if she's already got a replacement for him.

the rig finally sank around ten this morning, but there's still a huge search operation going on.

Should she be a suspect in the explosion?

Wouldn't that be something if he turned up alive?

I would imagine that those offshore drilling rigs require liability insurance out the wazoo??

I hope they all come bobbin' to the top....

I hope so too, but sometimes with an explosion they don't find anything for the casket. If the searchers didn't find those guys before the rig sank, I don't imagine the searchers are going to find the workers.

That "widow" sure sounds like a real winner. There will be plenty of time for lawsuits once everything gets sorted out.

yes, between BP and Transocean, there are excess layers well into the hundreds of millions, but the claims are going to be staggering.

besides all the personal injury and death claims, the rig is a total loss, and it had to cost close to half a billion dollars. no way of knowing about downhole damage or reservoir damage at this point, but at the very least there's going to be a huge delay damage claim for the delay in achieving production while the rig is replaced. that could easily be in the high nine figures.

then there are the pollution claims.


it will be a feast for lawyers, as well as, probably, for sharks. I don't think they're going to find anybody else alive.

Do they know what caused the explosion, was there any type of oil spill?

That is amazing, Steve.

And people wonder why it costs $$$ to explore and drill for oil?

the well had been completed, when they apparently had a pressure surge and a blowout. a whole lot of stuff went wrong at once....and the physical evidence is all now lying on the bottom in mile deep water.

this means plaintiffs can cook up any theory they want to, and have an excuse to sue not only Trans and BP but every contractor that worked out there or supplied and equipment or materials.

Still burning, Steve ?

GTC

the fire went out when the rig sank, but it's still spewing oil

Here it is before it went under.

Here's a video of the fire.

Rig Fire

Damage claim for delays? Breach of a delivery contract? Only if the oil rig is not owned by the parent oil company. Is that typical? I'm not in the oil biz
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And folks may wonder why the offshore drilling moratorium wasn't overturned during GW's tenure.

Whoever produced the BOP on that rig is sitting somewhere right now sweating bullets.

Everyone else who has one made by the same company is starting to ask questions I can guarantee that.

Ambulance chasers are now operating by speed boat.

BCR

Does Morris Bart still operate in New Orleans?

there was never a moratorium in the deep Gulf

BP will sue Transocean....even though the drilling contract specifically excludes consequential damages....claiming there was gross negligence which voids the clause. their claimed damages will be the difference between the present value of the income stream with and without the casualty.

been there, done that

It was Ronnie Penton that filed that one.

I am an acquaintance of the guy who died, and am friends with a few survivors.

Until recently a friend of mine and I owned a small third party safety and compliance company that staffed safety hands to rigs in the gulf. My buddy got a job as global safety coordinator for some big company last year and I closed the business. There are a ton of things that can go wrong on a rig, even if you do everything right. I know nothing about the tech aspects of these vessels, but can say they are pretty highly regulated and regularly inspected including the function of the BOPs. We begged BP to use our company about three years ago, but they were happy with their current safety program. I cannot say it would have made any difference, but it would have added another 12M in insurance coverage.

BTW Steve if you are defending this one and need an expert I may have some safety engineers you would like to speak with.

the first suit was filed by Scott Bickford, of Martzell and Bickford

I'm sure more will be filed today. The real prize will be control of the plaintiff's committee.

Morris Bart is pretty much a car crash guy.....the offshore PI work is a different market.