SPILL OF LAWSUITS FOLLOWS QUICKLY WITH DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL DISASTER IN GULF (AL.COM)
Apr 30, 2010
By Brendan Kirby on al.com
The flow of lawsuits has begun.
Prominent Mobile, Ala., law firm Cunningham Bounds has filed a slew of
separate class-action lawsuits on behalf of various groups impacted by
the massive oil spill gushing from Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling
rig that exploded and sank last week in the Gulf of Mexico.
And in Gulfport, Miss., the owner of a Mississippi seafood company filed
a federal class-action lawsuit today over the rig explosion and resulting
oil spill. Jerry Forte, owner of Jerry Forte Seafood in Pass Christian,
claims the spill could damage the commercial seafood industry.
Cunningham represents residents and businesses that own rental property
in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores and seafood processors and harvesters.
"We all hoped and prayed that the oil would never reach the coastline,"
attorney Robert T. Cunningham said in a statement.
"However, now that it has happened, the oil spill and the inability
of those who are at fault to stop the spill from continuing, and their
inability to prevent its migration toward the Gulf Coast, has already
damaged the fishery eco-system and caused numerous rental cancellations
of condos, charter boats, and the like and substantial financial losses
to innocent fishermen, oyster harvesters, business owners, boat owners
and crews, managers and others."
"BP and other responsible parties should ultimately be held legally
responsible for those losses, and that is the reason our clients have
filed lawsuits in Alabama and Florida."
The Gulfport suit was filed by Jerry Forte, owner of Jerry Forte Seafood
in Pass Christian, and claims the spill could damage the commercial seafood industry.
Forte's attorneys filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.
The suit seeks at least $5 million in compensatory damages, plus an unspecified
amount of punitive damages against Transocean, BP, Halliburton Energy
Services Inc. and Cameron International Corp.
Shrimpers have filed similar lawsuits in federal courts in Louisiana and Alabama.
Other law firms have filed suits on behalf of property owners. A Birmingham
firm, for instance, sued on behalf of a Jefferson County man who owns
Gulf Coast condo unit. The plaintiff, Peter Burke, seeks to represent
all condo owners along the Alabama coast. The civil complaint contends
that the spill already has affected Burke's ability to rent his condos.
Another class-action suit seeking to represent coastal Alabama property
owners was filed by two Louisiana residents who own property in Baldwin County.
On Thursday, a Bayou La Batre shrimper became the first person to sue
in Mobile's federal court.
All of the lawsuits target the same companies: BP Plc; Transocean Ltd.,
which owned the drilling rig; Halliburton Energy Services, whose employees
were working on the platform; and Cameron International Corp., which manufactured
the blowout preventer that failed to shut off the oil flow.
Representatives from those companies have declined to comment on pending
litigation.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)