久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Americas

Gulf Coast oil spillers to face day in court

Agencies | Updated: 2013-02-22 09:25

Nearly three years after a deepwater well rupture killed 11 men, sank a rig and spewed 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP and the other companies involved are scheduled to face their judge in court.

The trial over the worst US offshore oil spill is set to start Monday in New Orleans before a federal judge and without a jury. Few expect the case, seen lasting several months, will be decided by the judge.

An eleventh-hour settlement this weekend is a possibility, but legal experts expect a resolution, at least with the US Department of Justice, in the coming months. Early testimony is likely to set the tone for any settlement talks, depending on how damaging the evidence is, they said.

"This is a game of corporate chicken," said John Zavitsanos, a Houston civil litigator. "We have tangled with BP often, and they blink."

Joining well owner BP Plc in Judge Carl Barbier's courtroom will be rig owner Transocean Ltd and well cement services provider Halliburton Co.

Lined up against them will be the Justice Department, several Gulf Coast states and other plaintiffs.

BP has a history of settling civil cases before or during trial. Four trials began over the 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 people. All were settled. Payouts totalled $3.1 billion. BP has since sold the refinery.

The stakes are higher this time, though. The Macondo well explosion and spill on April 20, 2010 affected five state coastlines, prompted a six-month ban on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf and disrupted the livelihoods of fishermen, hoteliers and others. And once a trial gets under way, a new dynamic can take hold.

"If the first couple of days are good for the plaintiffs or good for the defendants, that could shift. Once the first pitch is thrown, those odds could change," said Anthony Sabino, a business law professor at St. John's University School of Law.

Just ahead of the trial, BP won agreement from the Justice Department to exclude 810,000 barrels from the total spilt barrels estimate, but BP says the estimate is still too high. It also wants "efforts to do the right thing" afterwards taken into account and has earmarked only $3.5 billion for Clean Water Act payments, compared with its potential maximum liability of $17.5 billion.

A BP settlement with the Justice Department over such a large liability could lead to another delay of a trial that has already been postponed.

"With the federal government out of it, he (Barbier) might well postpone ... particularly if the states indicated to him that they were continuing to talk," said Ed Sherman of Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.

"REASONABLE TERMS"  

BP has already paid out $9 billion in a partial settlement over the spill. Last year it also settled 14 criminal charges with a guilty plea and a record $4 billion in fines and penalties.

The civil claims to be covered next week could surpass these, and the trial's significance to BP was evident at a February 5 news conference in London. When Chief Executive Bob Dudley said the company would vigorously defend itself, he repeatedly looked toward his top in-house lawyer, Rupert Bondy, for moral support.

BP has repeatedly said it will settle on "reasonable terms," but Bondy drew a line in the sand this week, saying the British company now goes to trial "faced with demands that are excessive and not based on reality."

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久r这里只有精品 | 精品一区二区三区视频在线观看 | 视频二区好吊色永久视频 | 亚州在线视频 | 亚洲 欧美 激情 另类 自拍 | 九九国产精品视频 | 男女视频在线观看免费 | 国产精品美女一级在线观看 | 欧美xxxx精品另类 | 久久久久久久久久久视频国内精品视频 | 成人午夜性a一级毛片美女 成人午夜亚洲影视在线观看 | 手机看黄av免费网址 | 88精品视频 | 男同黄网站 | 91av视频在线 | 成人免费观看永久24小时 | 免费在线黄色网址 | 一色屋精品亚洲香蕉网站 | 成年人午夜影院 | 中文乱码字幕午夜无线观看 | 国产亚洲小视频 | 久久亚洲精品成人 | 精品国产免费一区二区三区五区 | 中文精品99久久国产 | 日韩国产欧美在线观看一区二区 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区久本道 | 国产在线成人一区二区 | 91欧美视频 | caoporen在线视频入口 | 成人毛片在线播放 | 久草热视频 | 那种视频在线观看 | 小屁孩cao大人免费网站 | 在线看片亚洲 | 国产精品久久久久无毒 | 日本高清毛片视频在线看 | 在线aaa| 欧美综合一区 | 萌白酱福利视频在线网站 | 亚洲精品大片 | 久草热视频|