Tort Lawyers Will Clean Up With BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Disaster

As is often the case what is bad news for some provides a bonanza in profits for others. There is no doubt that with the continued flow of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, with no end in sight, tort lawyers will clean up with the BP oil spill disaster.

The extent of the Gulf Deepwater Horizon oil spill is already twice the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 that contaminated the Alaskan shoreline. The major differences between the two events is that the Exxon Valdez spill involved a finite amount of oil and that oil was released near the surface, not at a depth of over 5,000 feet. From a Tort lawyers point of view the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is the gift that will just keep on giving as oil continues to spill into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Knowledgeable oil industry experts seem to agree that the oil flow will not be stopped until a relief well can be completed. The best present estimates are that the relief well will not be completed until at best early August. Then there is no assurance that the first attempt at drilling the relief well will be successful. Evidence is surfacing that the drilling of the wild well had experienced several problems prior to the blowout. Apparently, the geological formation at the well site as well as the depth of the well presents real challenges for even the best and most advanced drilling teams.

After the April 20 blowout, legal squadrons quickly gathered to sue BP and its contractors for claims that experts say could add up to a half-a-trillion dollars or more. About 110 suits have been filed so far, according to Daniel Becnel, a leading tort attorney in Louisiana, and dozens more appear to be on the way.

The nightmare for BP, its top executives, and shareholders, appears to be just getting underway. The US government has recently estimated that the oil spill is gushing at the rate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day. Some scientists believe that even this revised estimate is far too low and that as much as 120,000 barrels per day could be contaminating waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The rate of spill is highly important to BP in that eventually they will be fined by the government according to the size of the total spill. This fine would be in addition to whatever damages are paid out to successful plaintiffs in tort lawsuits and in immediate voluntary payments made by BP to those who have suffered a loss of income due to the oil spill.

There is a fear among environmentalists and government officials, as well as an informed highly interested public, that significant amounts of oil will eventually find its way into the Gulf stream. Should that be the case significant damage would occur in the Florida keys, along the eastern beaches of Florida, and perhaps along most of the East Coast of the United States. Even the thought of the oil spill affecting such a tremendous area must give the BP executives migraine headaches and horrible nightmares.

To date, BP has agreed to pay claims for the loss of income and business by fishermen, shrimpers, oystermen, seafood restaurants, marinas, and other businesses and individuals who have lost their livelihoods or had their businesses damaged as a result of the oil spill. However, one has to wonder how long BP will maintain these payments should the disaster be as long lasting as many environmentalist now fear. Should damage eventually extend all along the Eastern seaboard the number of damage claims will likely be in the hundreds of thousands with damage amounts in the multi-multi-billions.

No doubt, in addition to the damage claims BP will be flooded with many thousands of lawsuits and attacked by an army of tort attorneys suing for substantial damages. With the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill already deemed the greatest environmental disaster in American history, and the foreign corporation BP acknowledging responsibility for the spill, it is unlikely that BP will find much sympathy in American courtrooms from American jurors.

Tort lawyers will cleanup as they collect a significant percentage of the multi-billions in damages that will surely the awarded to BP oil spill plaintiffs. A golden age for tort lawyers has begun at a time of tremendous tragedy for many Americans. Probably, tort attorneys will still be handling BP oil spill lawsuits for the next 15 to 20 years. The big question is if even a major tremendously profitable, at least up to now, multi-national oil company such as BP can remain viable as it struggles with the financial and PR liabilities that such a major oil spill and cleanup effort will bring?