Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has asked the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out District Judge Carl Barbier’s order for the state to set aside 4% of any settlements from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster for possible payment to the committee of plaintiff attorneys driving the litigation. Caldwell’s petition says the state’s sovereignty has been disrespected, money for Louisiana’s environmental recovery is in jeopardy because of the order, and the attorney general has been raising these concerns since the inception of the litigation without being able to get a proper hearing. “The State of Louisiana’s role in these proceedings has been routinely minimized, prejudiced or precluded,” the filing says.
At issue is a Dec. 28 decision by Judge Barbier ordering private parties to the oil spill litigation to reserve 6% of any settlements, and state and local governmental entities to reserve 4% of any settlements, in a fund that could eventually compensate the committee of plaintiff attorneys leading the litigation for their work. The committee of plaintiff attorneys says that its work is expensive and everyone who benefits should contribute; other parties say that they don’t benefit from the committee’s work and shouldn’t be forced to pay. Because Louisiana’s environment was the most heavily damaged by the 2010 oil disaster and the state could stand to recover billions of dollars in environmental recoveries, setting aside even 4% of the recovery could amount to a large sum of money. Read more here.
