Since the oil rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico last month, attorneys and staff personnel for Montgomery's Beasley Allen law firm have been working almost around the clock assessing claims of those who may be adversely impacted by the economic and ecological disaster.
Rhon Jones, who heads the firm's environmental practice, has been leading Beasley-Allen's efforts. In an interview last Thursday, Jones said the number of people the oil spill could impact is immense.
The defendants' push to stay Gulf of Mexico oil spill cases hit another snag in Mobile, Ala. A second federal judge in the Southern District of Alabama on Tuesday denied requests by BP PLC and Halliburton Energy Services Inc. to delay two proposed class actions over economic losses.
U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose denied stays in Bon Secour Fisheries Inc., et al. v. BP, filed on behalf of a fishery and a seafood processor, and Deupree Outdoor Guide Services Inc. v. BP, filed on behalf of a charter fishing company. She offered no explanation.
The Johnson & Johnson unit that recalled millions of bottles of liquid children's Tylenol and other pediatric medicines last month may face criminal penalties, product seizures or other sanctions, an official from the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
The agency is considering further actions against McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the Johnson & Johnson unit, after a pattern of violations in manufacturing and quality control practices led to a number of recent recalls, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the F.D.A.'s principal deputy commissioner, said at a Congressional hearing on Thursday.
For consumers who turned to drugstore house brands after the recall last month of liquid children's Tylenol and other medicines made by a unit of Johnson & Johnson, there is yet more unsettling news.
The recall included more than 40 varieties of liquid pediatric Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec that may have contained metal particles, too much of the active drug ingredient or inactive ingredients that did not meet testing requirements. At the time, the Food and Drug Administration recommended that consumers look for generic alternatives to these brand-name over-the-counter drugs.
A top BP PLC executive declined to be specific today when pressed at a congressional hearing to say what kind of claims the company will pay from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the liability questions surrounding the Gulf of Mexico spill, including the response of the companies involved and the damage limits written into federal law. Darryl Willis, BP's vice president for resources, is representing the company at the hearing.
"We are going to pay all legitimate claims," Willis said, repeating a company refrain that has drawn skepticism from lawmakers and from plaintiffs' advocates, who have brought scores of class actions and other lawsuits against BP and other companies.
Alabama plaintiffs firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles has filed another class action lawsuit against BP and other companies related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The lawsuit, which was announced Thursday and alleges negligence and wanton misconduct, also names Haliburton and Cameron International as defendants.
According to the petition, the firm seeks to, "represent property owners and rental agencies that have incurred damages related to the disaster, including: real property damages; personal property damages; loss of profits and earning capacity; loss of commercial and subsistence use of natural resources; increased costs of public services; and, loss of revenues."
The massive spill that has pumped oil into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly a month has laid bare the need for regulations covering the industry to be tightened, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday.
"Do the laws need to be changed?" he asked the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in one of his two Senate committee appearances of the day. "The answer is yes."
Undersea robots tried to thread a small tube into the jagged pipe that is pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico early Friday in BP's latest attempt to cut down on the spill from a blown-out well that has pumped out more than 4 million gallons of crude.
The company was trying to move the 6-inch tube into the leaking 21-inch pipe, known as the riser. The smaller tube will be surrounded by a stopper to keep oil from leaking into the sea, which could be in place later Friday, BP said. The plan is for the tube to siphon the oil to a tanker at the surface.
The company that owns the now-sunken drilling rig oozing oil into the Gulf of Mexico is counting on a 150-year-old maritime law to limit its damages. To a mere $26.7 million.
That's how much Transocean Ltd. said it should pay in a motion filed on Thursday in federal court in the Southern District of Texas. Citing an 1851 law aimed at shipping mishaps, Transocean said its damages should be limited to $26.7 million in unpaid drilling fees earned before the April 20 explosion, noting the Deepwater Horizon rig is otherwise worth nothing now.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) - Heavyweight Alabama trial lawyer Jere Beasley is among those filing lawsuits over an explosion and oil spill at an offshore drilling site owned by BP.
