Gulf oil leak sets off 'unbelievable array' of legal issues

[IScreamSundays]

Source: USAToday

Fishermen and property owners along the Gulf Coast have filed hundreds of lawsuits since April against oil company BP and its contractors amid a legal landscape that has changed dramatically since the Exxon Valdez tanker spill sullied Alaska's Prince William Sound 21 years ago.
The Valdez spill prompted Congress to pass the 1990 Oil Pollution Act — intended to give fishermen and others harmed by such spills a quicker route for settling their claims — and nearly two decades of litigation over that spill also has redefined centuries-old maritime law on the issue.

Now, as hundreds of spill victims test those laws, attorneys say many questions remain about how far the protections will go and how long it will take to compensate the fishermen, landholders and beachside cities that have suffered from the spill.

"There are an unbelievable array of issues in this case," said Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher, who argued the Exxon Valdez case for the commercial fishermen and other Alaska businesses before the U.S. Supreme Court. "One of the most painful things about the Exxon case was that it took us 20 years to get the case finished and get the money in the pockets of the victims. One can't help but wonder if the same thing is going to happen here."


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Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-05-31-spill-lawsuits_N.htm

[704wipes]

1. Hope GOP tort reforms don't derail their efforts at justice

But since the deep south has been voting republican so long they probably will realize all the tort reform was only for their own good.

And, then again, I am not sure tort reform was ever really accomplished to any significant extent, it seems that is is something the GOP continually 'runs on' then never really does it, but then 'runs on it' again the next cycle. It will be interesting to see if any of the knucklehead GOP in the deep south is running on tort reform this November. I bet they go radio silence on it.

Also, it will be interesting to see if any individuals sue the federal government about any of this, even though they would be helping to unbalance the budget with a big monetary reward. I'm sure in such an instance it won't matter, since it is about them.

Sort of how Democrat Charlie Melancon now wants clinics to deal with health problems down there, but when he had a chance to vote for HCR in the House this past spring, he was unable to realize that would have taken care of any and all instances such as this into the future. Idiot.
Back then he voted against HCR.

[aquart]

2. "Tort Reform Means YOU Can't Sue BP"

Would that work as a campaign slogan?