VESSELS OF OPPORTUNITY LAWSUIT: BP BROKE PROMISES IN OIL SPILL PROGRAM (AL.COM)
Apr 19, 2011
By Dan Murtaugh, Press-Register
MOBILE, Ala. -- Nearly 100 Gulf coast boat owners involved in the Vessels
of Opportunity program sued BP PLC and others on Monday, maintaining that
the oil giant did not pay them as much as it had agreed.
BP paid out more than $600 million — including $129 million in Alabama
and $116 million in Mississippi — to boat owners and crew members
last summer in the oil-reconnaissance program, according to data provided
by the company.
But, according to the lawsuit, the company broke promises made to those
involved by not paying them for stand-by time, not repairing boats, and
being laggard in decontaminating boats after the program ended.
A BP spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The suit, filed by attorneys George Finkbohner III of Cunningham Bounds
in Mobile and David Bagwell of Fairhope, seeks unspecified damages. It
was filed Monday in Mobile County Circuit Court.
In addition to BP, Los Angeles-based Parsons Corp. and Montgomery-based
Danos & Curole Staffing LLC were also named as defendants, as were
several individuals who worked for the three companies.
Parsons helped manage the VOO program for BP.
According to the lawsuit, fishermen who were idled when the spill closed
off large portions of the Gulf of Mexico knew that they could receive
claims payments from BP for doing nothing. Therefore BP had to make a
lucrative offer to get them to join the VOO program.
According to the lawsuit, boat owners were paid more than $1,000 a day
to look for oil in their vessels. They had to be on call at all times,
according to the lawsuit.
Boat owners said they were told several times they would be paid every
day, not just when they were actually called on to work, the lawsuit said.
BP also promised to repair any damage to vessels that occurred while searching
for oil, and to decontaminate the boats after it was over, the lawsuit contends.