First oil

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

—Dick, the butcher, in King Henry The Sixth, by William Shakespeare.

At the risk of annoying lawyers at large, I am of the same opinion as Dick, the butcher, at least in the case of two sets of lawyers in Louisiana. The first set belongs to the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee that BP says is disbursing funds to businesses that did not suffer losses from the Gulf spill. The second set of lawyers represents the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (SLFPA-E), and has filed a suit against nearly a hundred oil and gas companies for allegedly damaging the coastal wetlands in southeast Louisiana.

If Dick, the butcher, were alive today, he would be inclined to arrange for a public hanging. Mindful of the U.S. Attorney General’s assurances to Russia that the U.S. would neither pursue a death penalty against National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden nor torture him, the highest punishment I can hope for is a whack on their collective wrists with a wet noodle.

Paying legitimate claims. In the aftermath of the Gulf spill, BP has paid over 300,000 claims worth $11 billion through a compensation process administered by Kenneth Feinberg. The Plaintiff’s Steering Committee consists of lawyers, who have persuaded their clients to skip the Feinberg process and press their claims against BP through lawsuits. BP even settled with this steering committee, expecting the additional claims to total about $7.8 billion.

Joe Nocera, columnist for The New York Times (no friend of the oil and gas industry), reports that through the committee “businesses that not only weren’t affected by the BP disaster, but hadn’t even suffered losses, were getting millions of dollars. Some had seen increased profits during the oil spill—and still got money. Lawyers started trolling for new clients, trumpeting the fact that claims didn’t have to have any connection to the disaster.” It remains to be seen whether BP can use the appeals process to put a stop to what it politely calls a “misinterpretation” of the settlement process. As acknowledgment of the futility of protesting against the exorbitant payments, BP has increased its allocation for additional payments to $9.6 billion.

Lawsuit for a bonanza. In late July, trial lawyers, representing the SLFPA-E, filed a lawsuit against 97 oil and gas companies, charging them with inflicting severe damage on fragile coastal wetlands.

The tiny SLFPA-E board’s action sidesteps the state’s $50-billion, 50-year coastal protection and restoration Master Plan, which outlines how the state and localities will restore wetlands and improve flood protection in the New Orleans area and elsewhere along the state’s coast. Governor Bobby Jindal criticized the lawsuit, through a statement saying the levee board had overstepped its authority, and would damage Louisiana’s ability to effectively tackle coastal issues.

“This is nothing but a windfall for a handful of trial lawyers,” Jindal said. “It boils down to trial lawyers, who see dollar signs in their future and, who are taking advantage of people, who want to restore Louisiana’s coast. These trial lawyers are taking this action at the expense of our coast and thousands of hardworking Louisianians, who help fuel America by working in the energy industry.”

We readily agree with Gov. Jindal. Protecting the coastland is everybody’s responsibility. If there are specific instances of damage, such incidents can be resolved outside the courts. If the lawyers want to restore Louisiana back to the way it was before a century of developments, they will have to take a pirogue to the courthouse, while fanning themselves with their filing papers. Even William Shakespeare will declare it to be poetic justice.