BP was named by the United States government  as a responsible party. According to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, parties that are deemed to be responsible for oil spill incidents, are liable for a variety of losses and damages associated with them. Anyone who has suffered economic losses related to BP oil spill, may be eligible for compensation by joining the  BP lawsuit (oil spill damages are currently being awarded in Washington, DC).

At present, matters related to the BP litigation oil spill 2010 – 2011 involves thousands of lawsuits filed against BP. In addition, the number of BP oil spill victims who’ve received compensation keeps on growing. The US Justice Department has filed a civil lawsuit associated with the BP oil spill as well, which named up to nine companies as defendants, including British Petroleum and  Transocean Ltd. The first BP class action lawsuit was filed by Daniel Becnel, who represented the interests of Louisiana commercial fishermen and shrimpers, whose businesses suffered losses  as result of the oil spill.

If you are a resident of one of the Gulf Coast states affected by the oil spill, you may be eligible to file a claim against BP. It is possible to file a case against Transocean Ltd., the owner of the oil rig, as well as BP, because it is also considered to be one of the responsible parties.

If you or a loved one has faced property loss or damage, business collapse or any type of economic loss caused by the BP oil spill, you may have valuable legal rights with regards to the BP litigation (oil spill).  Please fill out our free case evaluation form, or call 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to discuss your case with one of our BP litigation lawyers today.

BP, deemed responsible for the spill and its consequences, created a BP compensation fund, alotting $20 billion dollars in compensation for victims of the oil spill.  All in all, more than 35 offices, located throughout  the  Gulf Coast, were set up to accept claims from individuals and businesses that endured losses and damages resulting from the oil spill. Since the fund’s establishment, a number of residents who were living in the affected Gulf Coast states at the time the spill struck, have already received compensation. In December 2010, Kenneth Feinberg, the head of the BP compensation fund, announced the second phase of the BP oil spill compensation program, which allowed those affected who did not want to pursue the BP lawsuit oil spill, to apply for the BP settlement.

At present, 496,114 claims have been filed by people who wished to eventually to receive a chunk of the BP settlements and get their financial loss or damages associated with the Gulf of Mexico oil rig spill compensated. More than $3.5 billion was  paid to 170,709 businesses and individuals.  Not all claims to this day have been accepted however.  If you are one of the the individuals to have your claim submitted to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility rejected, hope is not lost.  You can still have your claim re-assessed or re-filed and or become part of the class action lawsuits against BP. As it stands, thousands of lawsuits have been mounted against BP, which thusfar has had to pay more than  $376 million in BP compensation payments, which, it should be stated, are unrelated to the above mentioned compensation fund.

If you or a loved one has lost your business or sustained other damages due to the Gulf Coast Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion, our lawyers can determine whether you are entitled to part of the BP settlement. Please fill out our online form, or call 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to discuss your case with one of our BP oil spill lawyers today.

As a result of this catastrophe, more than four millions of crude oil barrels were released into the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Coast states of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama were all seriously affected and as a result this disaster continues to undergo close investigated by BP oil spill lawyers because of the ongoing environmental and economic effects. Following the spill, hundreds of miles along the Gulf Coast became polluted and many species of birds and water-dwelling animals were threatened. The BP Gulf oil spill also affected important Gulf Coast industries, including commercial fishing, shrimping, oyster farming, tourism and recreation, shipping etc. Furthermore, thousands of property owners had their real property damaged or lost.

If you are an Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida or Texas resident, whose business was damaged as a result of the BP oil spill, then you may be able to file a lawsuit (BP).

BP Oil Spill Lawsuits Process – BP Oil Spill Lawyer

Are you planning to file a BP class action lawsuit? Filing a BP lawsuit can be a complicated procedure, involving a number of difficult aspects. Therefore it is strongly recommended that anybody who has faced economic, physical or property damage related to the oil rig explosion should contact an experienced BP oil spill lawyer.

At present, the following types of BP oil spill damage claims may be filed in BP lawsuits under federal law:

• Property damage claims (related to real property financial damage and loss)
• Loss of profit and earnings capacity claims (associated with loss of profits caused by the incident)
• Loss of subsistence use of natural resources claims (linked to the loss of natural resources used for subsistence).

In order to institute the BP litigation and receive compensation for BP oil spill damages, it is first required to show that the oil spill meets the requirements of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA). Already, thousands of BP oil spill lawsuits have been filed, not only against BP but Transocean Ltd., the company that operated the drilling rig.

When filing suit the following documentation should be submitted in the BP lawsuit claims package: BP claim forms and supporting documentation that the spill falls under OPA, for example: newspaper articles, witness statements, local, state or federal agency reports etc. If all the documents are submitted correctly and the fact that the oil spills falls under the Oil Pollution Act is confirmed, then the claimant may document his/her oil spill lawsuit claim.

If you or a loved one has suffered as result to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion, then you could be entitled to make a claim. Please fill out our online form for a free case evaluation, or call 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to discuss your case with one of our BP oil spill attorneys today.

Though BP is one of the largest and the most profitable oil companies in the world, its reputation has suffered considerably because of the numerous BP lawsuits and class action litigations. Moreover, the number of BP oil spill victims who hope to reach a BP settlement keeps growing.

The first BP class action lawsuit was filed by Daniel Becnel on behalf of Louisiana fishermen, shrimpers and commercial boaters, whose business collapsed in the result of the BP oil spill. Becnel’s BP class action lawsuit is seeking almost $15 billion from British Petroleum. It’s reported that more than 1 million people, who were victims of the Louisiana BP oil spill are expected to join the litigation. Furthermore, it is assumed that not only Louisiana fishermen, boaters and shrimpers, but property owners from other affected Gulf Coast states may also choose to pursue legal action against BP.

The British Petroleum lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana right after the US Coast Guard reported the approximate amount of oil released into the Gulf Coast waters. The lawsuit asserts that the responsible party or, in other words, the defendants, were aware of possible danger related to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig drilling operations, but failed to undertake adequate steps in order to prevent the disaster and damages associated with it. This class action lawsuit, BP and Transocean Ltd. (the owner of the Deepwater Horizon) have had filed against them will see these parties as defendants, strive to defend themselves against the aforementioned claims and allegations they are accused of.

If you or a loved one has been injured or had your property damaged as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, you could be entitled to compensation, through becoming part of the BP oil spill class action lawsuit. Please fill out our online form, or call 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to get a free consultation from one of our BP oil spill attorneys today.

The rig, known as the Vermillion 380 production platform, sets in about 2500 feet of water, and is located just west of where BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded this past April. That disaster killed 11 men and set off the worst oil spill in US history. The flow of oil into the Gulf was not halted until July 15, and BP is still working to put a permanent plug on the gusher.

There is no word yet on whether or not any oil is spilling from the Mariner Energy rig. A US Coast Guard official told CNN that “there are reports the rig was not actively producing any product, so we don’t know if there’s any risk of pollution.”

There are seven Coast Guard helicopters, two Coast Guard airplanes and four Coast Guard cutters on the way to the rig, according to CNN.

BP Live Feed
To see BP’s live feed of the gulf well oil leak, Click Here.

PBS Live Feed
According to the initial NOAA estimates that were released before the live video feed was available to the public, oil was leaking from the gulf floor at 210,000 gallons per day, or about 2.4 each second. It can be observed from the live feed, however, that figure looks extremely low. Expert sources have now put the oil leak rate at over 1,000,000 gallons per day, but a revised official estimate is not expected until later on this week.

LATEST INFO: US Government Mapping the Response to BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse is a new online tool that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. Developed by NOAA with the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Interior, the site offers you a “one-stop shop” for spill response information.
Environmental Response Management Application Click here.

Oil Spill Complaint
Latest Oil Spill Complaint filed with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Click Here.

Ken Feinberg, the Washington D.C. lawyer tapped by the White House, took over the administration of the $20 billion BP oil spill compensation fund last month. At the time, he promised the claims process would be faster than it had been when BP was handling claims.

But it appears reality is falling short of that promise. One restaurant owner whose business lost $45,000 this summer, and only got $15,000 when BP was taking care of claims, told NPR that the process is still bogged down. The diner filed for $120,000 to stay afloat through January, but has only received $4,500 since the August takeover.

The new claims process does not allow appeals for the emergency payment, so the diner’s options are limited. “We can file the final claim, give up all right to sue,” the business owner said. “Or we can retain an attorney. Or we can file bankruptcy and walk away from it all.”

Feinberg told NPR that he realizes now that he promised more than he has been able to deliver given the complexity and sheer volume of claims. The process, he said, has been made difficult by problems that include duplicate claims, or no proof of lost income.

“It’s taken longer than I thought,” Feinberg says. “And that criticism, the false expectations that have been raised, I think are justifiable.”

In an interview with USA Today, Feinberg promised a better response times as his staff weeds through old claims. “I’ve inherited a huge number of claims that have never been processed that need to be processed, especially business claims,” he said. Such claims, he said, were placed on a “side track” by BP when it was handling the process.

According to USA Today, more than 46,000 people have filed claims since Feinberg took charge. By September 8, his staff had paid 10,252 claims for nearly $80 million. Most claims paid are small, with payouts of $5,000 or less, USA Today said.

BP’s report cited its own workers for failing to correctly evaluate negative-pressure tests the day of the blast, but the investigation also found that the oil company’s well design was not to blame for the catastrophe.

The study listed eight failures BP said caused the disaster. These included “weaknesses in cement design and testing, quality assurance and risk assessment” conducted by Halliburton. Transocean’s rig crew and BP well site leaders were cited for having “reached the incorrect view that the test [of cementing the well to close it] was successful and that well integrity had been established.” The report also said the Transocean crew “did not recognize the influx (of hydrocarbons) and did not act to control the well until hydrocarbons had passed” through the blowout preventer on the sea floor and into the riser pipe that went to the rig.

Both Transocean and Halliburton are taking exception to BP’s findings. Transocean, in particular, disputed BP’s contention that its well design did not play a role in the blowout.

“This is a self-serving report that attempts to conceal the critical factor that set the stage for the Macondo incident: BP’s fatally flawed well design. In both its design and construction, BP made a series of cost-saving decisions that risk – in some cases, severely,” Transocean said in a statement.

Halliburton maintained that BP, as the owner of the well, signed off on every step of its work.

“Deepwater operations are inherently complex and a number of contractors are involved which routinely make recommendations to a single point of contact, the well owner,” Halliburton said in a statement. “The well owner is responsible for designing the well program and any testing related to the well. Contractors do not specify well design or make decisions regarding testing procedures as that responsibility lies with the well owner.”

The BP report was criticized by others as well. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, dismissed the report, and said he was waiting for the “real story.”

“Just as the environmental damage did not end with the capping of BP’s well, this company-run investigation is not the end of the inquiries into the BP oil spill,” Markey said in a statement. “This report is not BP’s mea culpa. Of their own eight key findings, they only explicitly take responsibility for half of one.”

Some environmental groups were also less than impressed.

“This report is more concerned with calming BP’s shareholders than taking responsibility for its actions,” Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Houston Chronicle.

The cement and shoe track barriers – and in particular the cement slurry that was used – at the bottom of the Macondo well failed to contain hydrocarbons within the reservoir, as they were designed to do, and allowed gas and liquids to flow up the production casing;
The results of the negative pressure test were incorrectly accepted by BP and Transocean, although well integrity had not been established;
Over a 40-minute period, the Transocean rig crew failed to recognize and act on the influx of hydrocarbons into the well until the hydrocarbons were in the riser and rapidly flowing to the surface;
After the well-flow reached the rig it was routed to a mud-gas separator, causing gas to be vented directly on to the rig rather than being diverted overboard;
The flow of gas into the engine rooms through the ventilation system created a potential for ignition which the rig’s fire and gas system did not prevent;
Even after explosion and fire had disabled its crew-operated controls, the rig’s blow-out preventer on the sea-bed should have activated automatically to seal the well. But it failed to operate, probably because critical components were not working.
Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Cementing work on the platform was performed by Halliburton Co.

In a statement released this morning, outgoing BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward maintained that the investigation found that “it would appear unlikely that the well design contributed to the incident.” However, according to a report in The Washington Post, other oil company executives have said BP used a well design that was cheaper and easier to implement instead of a safer but more expensive design.

The BP report is just the first of several addressing the Deepwater Horizon disaster that is expected to be released in the coming months. The catastrophe is being investigated by several federal agencies, including the Justice Department, Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
The Post report also noted that the other parties cited in the BP report have yet to give their version of events. Transocean, in particular, recently complained that BP hasn’t turned over data that would help with its own internal investigation.

According to the Associated Press, government investigators will take possession of the blowout preventer. BP is expected to mud and cement to plug the blown-out well for good from the bottom.

In other news, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said today that it will use $10 million in BP funds to analyze the disaster’s potential health hazards. The so-called “Gulf Workers’ Study” will begin this fall. The study will focus on workers’ exposure to oil and dispersant products and potential health consequences, such as respiratory, neurobehavioral, carcinogenic and immunological conditions, as well as mental health concerns and other spill-related stressors.

Workers with varying levels of exposure, from those involved in oil burning and skimming to the shoreline cleaners, will be enrolled in the study. In addtion to BP’s money, the study will be paid for with a $10 million contribution from the NIH. Finally, BP’s own report on the cause of the spill will be released this Wednesday. Last month, we reported that sources familiar with the probe said that the company’s internal investigators had found that crews aboard the Deepwater Horizon had misread a test of the well’s stability the day of the blast. Because it was misinterpreted, workers aboard the rig began replacing drilling fluid in the well with seawater, a substance that was too light to prevent natural gas that was already leaking into the well from shooting up the well pipe to the rig.

According to Bloomberg News, the 200-page internal report was compiled by a team of BP investigators led by the company’s head of safety and operations. It concludes that the oil giant bears “partial responsibility” for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. However, it also places some blame on Transocean Ltd., the owner of the doomed rig, Bloomberg said.