Court orders GCCF to withhold 6% of some payments

Any oil spill claimant who joined the legal action against Transocean -- pending in a New Orleans federal court -- will have six percent of his payment withheld by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF).

The current rule, ordered January 18, which does not subject a claimant to the holdback if she never filed suit or joined the MDL litigation, comes after the court reversed its own earlier ruling, issued January 4. The earlier ruling, on January 4, had subjected all GCCF claimants to the 6% holdback, even if they never hired a lawyer and never filed suit or joined the MDL. The January 4 order amended and clarified a December 28, 2011, order, which originally established the MDL escrow account and reserve.

Judge Barbier ordered the 6% "holdback" on to cover whatever fees the court might later authorize to pay lawyers representing plaintiffs in the multi-district litigation (MDL) that encompasses the numerous civil cases arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The lawyers working for plaintiffs in an MDL typically produce results that benefit all plaintiffs, even those who do not have a lawyer and those whose lawyers are not actively assisting the MDL Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC). For this reason, courts generally award some funds to the MDL PSC, out of jury awards and settlement amounts, to pay litigation fees and expenses.

In the Deepwater Horizon MDL, the court initially ordered holdback of such funds from all GCCF claimants, in the Dec. 28, 2011, order (clarified and amended in the Jan. 4 order). This was unlike the typical MDL situation, in which such an order would only affect parties who had filed lawsuits. In the BP oil spill scenario, GCCF claimants were affected, and many of those individuals and businesses have not filed a lawsuit. Several parties criticized and questioned the court's order to withhold funds from non-litigating parties, appealing to Judge Barbier to alter the ruling, which he did, in the January 18 order.

"The Court has received and considered responses from a number of parties," Judge Barbier explained in his January 18 order, "including the PSC, the United States, the Attorney General for the State of Alabama, and also from a number of interested non-parties, including the Attorneys General for the States of Mississippi and Florida, as well as several non-PSC attorneys."

Some of those responses addressed other issues, beyond the holdback fee. Judge Barbier addressed one of those issues in a separate January 18 order, appointing Louisiana Attorney General James D. “Buddy” Caldwell as Co-Coordinating Counsel for the State Interests. Caldwell had previously been excluded from a role in the MDL, but will now be working alongside Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.

Because the court has not yet made any rulings on exactly how much the fees will be, it is possible that some of that money might someday be paid back to the GCCF claimants.

April 20 deadline approaching in Transocean litigation over BP oil spill in Gulf of Mexico

If you have been somehow harmed by the BP oil spill, you should pay close attention to the upcoming April 20 deadline for joining the federal litigation over the liability of Transocean -- the company that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

Anyone who suffered injury or financial loss from the BP oil spill must file a short form with the federal court in New Orleans, if they want to preserve the right to sue one of the major defendants in the case, Transocean, the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon rig at the heart of the oil spill.

You might recall the news on May 13, 2010, as the oil was still billowing into the Gulf, that Transocean asked federal judge Judge Keith P. Ellison to cap its financial liability at $26.7 million under an ancient maritime statute that limits a vessel-owner's liability to an amount equal to the value of its ship and cargo -- no matter how much damage that vessel has done. Under the Limitation of Liability Act of 1851, a vessel owner is only liable for the post-accident value of the vessel and cargo, if the owner can show he or she had no knowledge of negligence in the accident. Of course, the Deepwater Horizon was worth quite a bit more before it sank to the bottom of the Gulf. But, the Act clearly sets the limit based on the value of the vessel (the oil rig counts as a "vessel" here) after the accident.

The court handling the decision on applying the Limitation of Liability Act authorized a website to inform the public about the filing process for joining the litigation and preserving rights now: http://www.oilspillcourtcase.com/

The form is also available on the official court website: http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/OilSpill/Forms/Forms.htm

Claimants who want to preserve their right to sue Transocean by joining the lawsuit, should select the appropriate form (see instructions on the websites above), fill it out, and mail it to:

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
500 Poydras Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
If you are represented by a lawyer, talk to your attorney before filing.

At my law firm, Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, we are advising clients on how to proceed, in order to ensure that all necessary rights are maintained and recovery is maximized.

Oil on Pensacola area beaches could hurt statewide tourism in Florida

St. Petersburg Times has excellent coverage of the oil spill disaster.

A slick on Pensacola's beaches could curtail tourism as far away as Miami, since many overseas visitors will hear "Florida beaches hit with oil" and not make the distinction between particular locations.

"If (the spill) hits a Florida beach anywhere, it's like when we have a hurricane or wild fire,'' said Minich. "A lot of people don't understand how big Florida is.''

St. Petersburg Times, By Steve Huettel and Mark Albright, April 30, 2010

Pensacola law firms are already gearing up for individual lawsuits and class actions against BP Oil (operator of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig) and Transocean Ltd. (owner of the oil rig).