Oil Spill
BP accused of judge-shopping for seeking Republican judge to handle lawsuits
BP has been accused of "judge shopping" after pushing for a specific judge in Houston, Texas — the centre of America's oil and gas industry — to handle the lawsuits against it.
In a move condemned yesterday by several legal experts as indicative of corporate arrogance but defended by others as accepted tactical manoeuvring, the British energy group has filed papers requesting that all pre-trial matters in litigation relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster be assigned to US District Judge Lynn Hughes.
Judge Hughes, 69, who was nominated in 1985 by the Republican President, Ronald Reagan, is also a lecturer for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, whose 31,000 members work mainly in the oil and gas industry and which works with oil companies including BP.
He has also earned thousands of dollars in royalties from leasing energy exploration companies the mineral rights on land that he owns — though not to BP — owned stock in Big Oil and has granted significant rulings in the industry's favour.
"This kind of thing is not par for the course, definitely not. Is it corporate arrogance? Absolutely. It’s horrifying," said David Guest, a lawyer for the Washington-based environmental group Earthjustice.
He added: "I have a feeling it's not going to play out the way BP wants it. It looks such scandalous behaviour that it seems it would be hard to stick."
Other legal sources point out, however, that plaintiffs' lawyers are also attempting similar moves, lobbying for their cases to be heard in Louisiana, where the Deepwater Horizon spill has generated the greatest public anger and economic impact.
Judge Hughes is a respected figure with experience of handling large-scale and complicated corporate litigation. He has also ruled against the oil industry in the past and operates with integrity and impartiality.
Heading the hunt for a judge without conflict or the perception of conflict is the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL), which is expected to announce a decision next month.
Its task will not be straightforward. Of the 64 federal judges in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida that sit in districts where Deepwater Horizon lawsuits have been filed, 37 have financial links to the oil and gas industry, an investigation has found.
A number receive royalties on mineral leases while others own stocks or bonds in BP, as well as in Transocean, the company that operated the ill-fated rig, and Halliburton, which cemented the well that is spewing up to 25,000 barrels (1.05 million US gallons) of oil a day.
All three companies are at the heart of about 150 lawsuits brought by families of the 11 men who died and thousands of victims of the economic and environmental catastrophe that the oil leak has caused.
President Obama warned that the economic fallout from the oil leak would be substantial and Admiral Thad Allen, the head of the US Coast Guard, said that logistical moves were being put in place to try to prevent the oil coming ashore in greater quantities.
"The MDL panel must try to appoint a judge that is neutral and unbiased on both sides," said Dane Ciolino, a professor of law at Loyola University, New Orleans.
"BP are doing no more than the plaintiffs' lawyers are doing, which is to request a judge that for strategic reasons is going to provide them with what they believe to be a better forum.
"Both sides are looking to whatever tactical advantage they perceive exists . . . obviously the economic and environmental impact in Texas is significantly less than in Louisiana."
According to the National Law Journal, seven of the 12 federal judges in the eastern district of Louisiana have recused themselves from hearing oil spill cases because of their connections to the industry.
They include US District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon in New Orleans, who owns stock in BP. District Judge Carl Barbier, also of New Orleans, who is favoured by a number of plaintiffs’ lawyers, divulged that he holds investments in Transocean and Halliburton but is selling them to avoid any conflict.
"It may seem a little sinister to outsiders that so many judges are in the thrall of the oil and gas industry, but along with fishing the industry is king in this part of the world," said Martin Davies, an expert in maritime law at Tulane University, New Orleans.
Buddy Caldwell, the attorney-general of Louisiana, appealed last week for federal funds to help him to line up a legal case against BP and other parties involved in the spill, revealing that he was finding himself competing against the oil company to snap up industry experts to give testimony.
"You want your people on the ground now and BP is out there trying to hire the same experts," he told the Times-Picayune newspaper in Louisiana. "You've got to get the best lawyers. They're going to have lawyers that charge $1,000 (£690) an hour. I want something close to a level playing field."
(Published by The London Times – June 8, 2010)