Personal Injury Law

Transocean Trying to Limit Their Liability in Oil Rig Disaster

By Michael

The company who owns the Deepwater Horizon, the BP oil rig which sunk in April after an explosion, recently said they will be appealing to a federal judge to place a limit on the overall liability cost they will be responsible for at $27 million.

If the request is granted, Transocean would be left as much as $533 million in insurance money.

The dollar amount is similar to what the company was expecting to make off of their three year contract with BP, who leased the sunken rig, according to the Associated Press.

The maneuver comes at a time where Transocean along with oil company BP are the targets of an increasing number of wrongful death, personal injury and class action lawsuits filed by rig workers, their families and people affected by oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. The two companies are clamoring to plug an open oil well that is leaking about hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean every day.

To add to their legal troubles, congressional and administrative hearings held recently are raising questions about the safety methods and equipment used on the drill site. Eleven people were killed during the explosion and hundreds were injured.

Karen McCarthy, a New Orleans-area lawyer who is representing Louisiana crab fisherman who filed a lawsuit against the two companies, said she will oppose the liability cap.

McCarthy said she expected Transocean to point fingers at BP, but the company also will try any possible legal method they can to reduce their costs associated with the disaster.

Northeastern University law professor Tim Howard said he expects Transocean?s attempt to lower the liability will ultimately fail, and the subject will be added to the other multitude of lawsuits against the company. Howard has filed potential class action lawsuits against the companies on behalf of people affected by the oil spill.

?The evidence so far shows a tremendous amount of culpability on their part,? Howard said.

A spokesman for Transocean said it will cite an 1851 law that holds the owner of a sunken sea vessel accountable for its exact value after the accident. The oil rig was considered to be worth $27 million when it exploded, according to AP.

Transocean seeks to cap the amount it would be forced to pay if it loses any of the numerous injury lawsuits related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The company could also delay other proceedings for years while a judge determines the size of Transocean’s liability, said Keith Hall, a New Orleans lawyer who represents oil and gas companies.

Transocean CEO Steven Newman recently said its contract with BP holds the oil company responsible for the costs and liability from the spill.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on May 28, 2010 (boomark / email).