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Scott opts not to join Gulf oil spill lawsuit
Published: April 20, 2011
Florida will not join current legal action against the owner of the Deepwater Horizon well that exploded a year ago today — a decision by Gov. Rick Scott that was criticized at several levels on the eve of the anniversary of the worst oil disaster in the country's history.
The governor made the announcement Tuesday on the first day of a two-day tour of the Panhandle, which bore the brunt of the state's economic and environmental damage from last year's gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.
As the state's top elected official toured areas still trying to recover from the stain and taint of the more than 200 million gallons of oil, nearly a dozen tourism and economic officials met in St. Pete Beach to talk about the lingering issues of the spill.
The deadline for filing claims to be included in a trial next year against rig owner Transocean Ltd. is today. The February trial is designed to determine whether the company can limit what it pays claimants under maritime law and to assign percentages of fault to Transocean and other companies involved in the disaster.
Forgoing the lawsuit and filing a claim against BP instead is the best and fastest way to recoup losses, said Jennifer Krell Davis, spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office. Davis said Scott and the attorney general's office agreed that a claim would be preferable to joining the lawsuit.
"For us, the first priority is that Florida gets its fair compensation from BP," Davis said. Skipping the suit against Transocean "doesn't mean we couldn't file a claim or a lawsuit at a later date," Davis said.
"I urge Gov. Scott to aggressively fight to protect Florida taxpayers. Other states and communities appear to be more proactive in their approaches to recoup tax dollars and damages," Castor said. "As the Alabama attorney general said when he filed suit last August, 'Based on BP's broken promises, their history of saying one thing and doing another,' only a hard-nosed, aggressive approach will do."
Tampa lawyer Steve Yerrid, who was the special counsel on oil matters for former Gov. Charlie Crist, also was critical of Scott's decision.
"I have a sense that there is a great reluctance to confront the corporate wrongdoers," said Yerrid, who won billions of dollars for Florida in 1997 in a lawsuit against tobacco companies. "This is not the point where you trust the corporate wrongdoer, which has misled the public a number of times."
Florida claimants had been paid $1.52 billion as of Monday for oil-related damages, Yerrid said. Yet the state has not seen any big chunks of that money, he added.
"There is no adequate explanation as to why we have not been paid significant sums as the most significantly damaged party in this entire catastrophe," Yerrid said. "It's the people of Florida, the state of Florida, that have suffered the most damage."
Yerrid said he hopes that Scott and his attorneys have made the right decision for Florida residents.
"I really hope that they decided correctly," he said. "If they decided incorrectly, the people of Florida will suffer."
"Joining the suit would not prevent our state from pursuing a claim against BP or anyone else. It would merely be an avenue to make a claim for damages and other relief beyond what BP may pay through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility," said Rep. Rick Kriseman, a Democrat from St. Petersburg.
"Now, because of our governor's failure to act, we may lose our rights to recover damages from Transocean as well as other procedural rights," Kriseman said. "Additionally, failing to join the suit may now impact Florida's ability to utilize the findings of next year's trial."
Not everyone agrees with that position, however.
"I think the governor's decision was a courageous one," said Carl Nelson, a Tampa maritime lawyer who was involved in a marathon lawsuit in a 1993 spill in Tampa Bay and who represents hundreds of clients in the BP spill. "I imagine it was extremely difficult to make because of the public pressure."
Nelson said the governor was doing only what the law requires. He said the state cannot be a party to any lawsuit until it files a claim and that claim has not been acted on for 90 days. He also said that Florida can always choose to sue Transocean — or even BP — later and has until April 2013 to do so.
Those who appeared at the St. Pete Beach meeting called by Castor lamented ongoing effects of the oil.
Even as federal officials reopened the last 1,041 square miles that had been closed to fishing near the wellhead, Frank Jackalone of the Sierra Club talked about the unknown and ongoing "sickness of the Gulf."
"I think there is a false sense of security," Jackalone said.
Keith Overton, president of the TradeWinds Island Resorts where the meeting was held, said he could live without the publicity that will come from today's anniversary.
"I'd kind of like to forget about it," he said. "It'd be my preference that we didn't talk about it at all."
But Patricia Hubbard, who has seen her Madeira Beach commercial business operation continue to struggle to survive, disagrees.
"We cannot forget this happened," she said. "Hundreds of people lost their companies. Thousands of people lost their jobs. People committed suicide."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Tribune reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report.
rshaw@tampatrib.com
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