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| BP Oil Spill |
The amended complaint, filed as part of the consolidated litigation in federal court before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, expands earlier actions filed by the state. Last fall, the state filed a declaratory action against Transocean, then filed a more extensive complaint in March that included BP and minor partners in the well -- Anadarko and Moex -- and sought penalties for damages.
The complaint filed Tuesday afternoon adds Halliburton, Cameron and other parties that worked on the well, adds additional claims for punitive damages and demands a jury trial.
The state filed its complaint in advance of the one-year anniversary of the disaster listing all of its claims as a precautionary measure because Louisiana is the only state on the Gulf Coast with a one-year statute of limitations for filing suit. While many of the state's claims may fall under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 or maritime law, which give people several years to file, the state may also need to tap state law to press its case under general tort and negligence actions.
Filing by the one-year anniversary of the disaster also enabled the state to name parties like Halliburton, which are not designated as responsible parties under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
The state of Louisiana does not plan to file a claim in the Transocean limitation of liability proceeding, which also has a filing deadline of April 20. That case, which was initiated by Transocean in Houston but transferred to New Orleans, revolves around Transocean's contention that its liability should be limited to the $26.8 milion value of its sunken rig, and is scheduled to go to trial in February 2012. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison, who originally presided over the case when it was filed in Houston, has said that the limitiation proceeding does not affect state's rights.
