Court Of Appeals In New Orleans News

A U.S. appeals court said BP Plc, which in July reached a $18.7 billion settlement of federal, state and local claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, must face one of two proposed class-action lawsuits claiming that the oil company defrauded shareholders over the disaster. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said investors who bought BP's American depositary shares in a 33-day period soon after the spill may pursue group claims that BP initially "lowballed" the oil flow rate, and that the share price tumbled as the crisis' magnitude became known.

A former BP Plc engineer deserves a new trial on an obstruction of justice charge related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans agreed with a lower court judge's decision last June to throw out the defendant Kurt Mix's December 2013 conviction. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval acted after learning that the jury forewoman admitted to having heard in a courthouse elevator that other BP employees were being prosecuted over the spill…

BP Plc deserves the right to have a federal appeals court review some damage claims awarded under the settlement to compensate people and businesses harmed by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said BP did not expressly waive its right to appeal various claims determinations made under the 2012 settlement following review by a district court. BP argued that rules adopted by the federal judge who oversees that settlement compromised that right. BP is trying to hold down the costs of the settlement arising from the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and caused the largest U.S. offshore oil spill.

BP Plc on Wednesday said it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a court ruling concerning the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which forces the company to pay some businesses for economic damages without the businesses having to prove the spill caused their losses. On Monday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans refused to disturb a March ruling from a three-judge panel over how to compensate businesses. BP has said paying such claims could push the estimated $9.2 billion cost of its settlement with those businesses, which the company helped negotiate, significantly higher.

BP pays billions in compensation but some claims still unpaid; Oil still appearing on beaches in Gulf of Mexico. Company says claims process is flawed, not all oil from spill. Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colourful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living. He and others in the southern U.S. state say compensation has been paid unevenly and lawyers have taken big cuts.

Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colourful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living. He and others in the southern U.S. state say compensation has been paid unevenly and lawyers have taken big cuts. The British oil major has paid out billions of dollars in compensation under a settlement experts say is unprecedented in its breadth. Some claimants are satisfied, but others are irate that BP is now challenging aspects of the settlement.

A divided U.S. appeals court has rejected BP Plc's bid to block businesses from recovering money over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even if they could not trace their economic losses to the disaster. By a 2-1 vote, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans late Monday upheld a Dec. 24 ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, authorizing the payments on so-called business economic loss claims. It also said an injunction preventing payments should be lifted. The decision is a setback for BP's effort to limit payments under a multi-billion dollar settlement over the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and rupture of BP's Macondo oil well. That disaster killed 11 people and triggered the largest U.S. offshore oil spill.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a significant ruling benefiting ship mortgagees and other maritime creditors with decisions in two related cases stemming from the bankruptcy of Commodore Cruise Lines (“Commodore”). In one case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that AmWest Surety Ins. Co. ("AmWest") and other sureties who provided the $15 million bond required by the FMC for cruise operators calling at U.S. ports to secure refunds for passengers (an "FMC Bond"), had no lien on the Commodore Ships, and also ruled that Harris Trust & Savings Bank ("Harris Bank") which provided credit card services to Commodore under a merchant services agreement (and which provided refunds to passengers), also did not have a lien.

There has been much ado over the recent Supreme Court ruling that a commercial uninspected drilling vessel must comply with applicable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards since the vessel was not regulated by under the USCG inspected vessel standards. Those in the know within the industry do not regard this ruling as anything of great consequence, but rather a return to nationally uniform rulings of the law. The case Choa V. Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc. involved an explosion onboard the inland drilling barge RIG 52 in June of 1997. The RIG 52 was in Louisiana waters and was nearing completion of a well when an explosion occurred killing four crewmen and injuring two others.