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Deepwater Horizon lawsuits to be heard by New Orleans judge

Posted on Aug 15, 2010

A federal judge in New Orleans was chosen last week to preside over the more than 300 lawsuits filed against BP, Transocean, and Halliburton and Cameron International over the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that 77 cases plus more than 200 potential "tag-along" actions will be transferred to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier. The panel determined that New Orleans is the best place for the litigation because "Without discounting the spill's effects on other states, if there is a geographic and psychological 'center of gravity' in this docket, then the Eastern District of Louisiana is closest to it."

BP favored having the law suits heard in Houston, where its U.S. operations are based. Three lawsuits filed by BP shareholders over stock losses will be heard by U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison in Houston.

The lawsuits that will be heard in New Orleans include Jones Act and DOHSA claims filed by relatives of workers killed in explosion. Other suits that will be heard have been filed on behalf of shrimpers, commercial fishermen, charter captains, property owners, environmental groups, restaurants, hotels and others who claim they have suffered economic losses since the spill.

Only four New Orleans-based federal judges are available to hear the cases because some federal judges have reclused themselves because of their oil and gas industry investments.