Personal Injury
Survivors of the Oil rig explosion which took place on April 20th and has led to an underwater oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico have urged memebrs of a House committee to hold BP and Transocean accountable for the accident, according to CNN.com
Workers on the rig said that they had consistently been asking for more help and that the explosion was 'hardly the first thing to go wrong' on the oil rig.
Employee's of Transocean, the company which owned the oil rig, have claimed that the company sent around an attorney trying to get employees to sign a form saying that Transocean were not liable for their injuries and would pay them $5,000. Transocean representative Sheila Jackson-Lee said the man wasn't an attorney but was offering them the money to cover their possessions.
Both BP and Transocean are making the paying of claims one of their main priorities. BP have already paid out $37 million in compensation and have opened claim centers in Gulf Coast states.
Transocean have filed a limitation action in preparation for the incoming lawsuits and BP has field to consolidate the suits, the majoirty of which are class action suits.
However, workers feel that the federal death on the High seas Act limits the damages the injured employees and their families can recieve.
More on this as details become available