BP Uses Public Information Meeting To Try To Gain Legal Advantage Over Oil Spill Victims

Bayou La Batre, Alabama – On Saturday afternoon May 1, as the oil spill continued to work its way onto the northern Gulf Coast, BP held what it had said would be a public information meeting in the south Alabama fishing town of Bayou La Batre.   Those in attendance included town leaders, fishermen, local business owners and townspeople, all of whom are certain to be economically damaged by the oil slick now bearing down on the coastline.  However, BP converted the public meeting into a public relations and litigation ploy.  BP told the fishermen, business owners and local officials present that it will be unnecessary for them to hire their own legal counsel, that if they call a BP 1-800 telephone number and claim total damages for themselves and their businesses of less than $5,000 dollars, then BP would pay a claim of less than $5,000 but the damaged individuals and businesses in Bayou La Batre will be required to sign BP paperwork.  If the claim against BP is more than $5,000, BP told the audience they would be required to deal directly with BP's legal department.

Local town leaders took the microphone from the BP representative, and told the townspeople present not to sign BP’s paperwork.

It is astonishing that BP, with its hordes of high-priced lawyers, would tell innocent victims not to obtain legal help for themselves, and that BP would try to lure these victims into dealing directly with BP's legal department.