Tag: Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee

Judge Barbier’s fee ruling in the Oil Spill MDL attracting more media attention.

I’ll keep this short and sweet folks as time is scarce for me today but we’re getting some referrals from a Joe Nocera column in the New York Times today about Judge Barbier’s recent fee ruling in the Oil Spill MDL and that also allows me to link Becky Mowbray’s reporting for the Times Picayune on Buddy Caldwell’s appeal of Judge Barbier’s ruling, which we covered here in a post that has been very well received in the new media. For my part I’m still cataloguing various instances where lawyers sitting on the PSC that also represent other clients against BP outside the PSC are taking diametrically opposing positions on the fee arrangement in motions filed before Judge Barbier’s court. This in turn lends the whole affair a three ring circus like quality.

Nocera, as is his wont, takes the side of corporate america, namely BP, in his piece but misses the mark by leaving out the fact that BP is an active participant in the cesspool that is this litigation even hiring the plaintiff firm that bears the name of legendary trial lawyer Wendell Gauthier to hand out campaign cash to local “luminaries” such as Bobby Jindal and Mary Landrieu. Nocera is what he is folks and his column is otherwise very accurate, well sourced and this much is true, BP has opened its wallet to make amends.

Becky Mowbray OTOH wrote the column that needed writing as she lent some much needed context to the political environment that got us here. Becky points out that Buddy Caldwell went to the legislature to obtain contingent fee authority from the legislature to pay the state’s contract lawyers in the MDL and was denied by same. She also honed in on the fact that the lawyer representing Team Jindal, Burton LeBlanc’s law firm, Baron & Budd sits on the PSC meaning Team Jindal has potentially interest conflicted council. The report had everything but Caldwell’s appeal itself, which a reader was kind enough to share so everyone could read the entire 56 page document for themselves.

I’ll have more on this down the line as the legal conflicts of interest are open, brazen and have amazingly been allowed to this point by Judge Barbier.

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Competing Conflicts of Interest cause Gulf Coast Claims Facility to suspend payments: A periodic report from the gutter where its all going down.

Ladies and Gentlemen in the next MDL Wrestling Federation match we have a Fatal 4 way match! We have Barack Obama’s Wall Street shoe shine boy Ken Feinberg for the GCCF v Bobby “Piyush”  Jindal for BP v Buddy “Tickle my ass with a feather” Caldwell v Plaintiff Steering Committee (PSC)

If not for a conflict of interest, some would have no interest at all ~ Nowdoucit

There are too many pigs for the teats ~ Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday Anita Lee at the Sun Herald broke and then added to the story of a ruling by Judge Barbier yesterday which allowed the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee to recoup their expenses from those folks that have settled their claims with BP via the Gulf Coast Claims Facility involving a 4% holdback from Louisiana and Alabama originated claims and 6% for everyone else. Seeing Anita’s story, my Katrina Bro Editilla sent me a bat signal via twitter, Anita was kind enough to share the order and spare me the PACER charge when answering my email inquiry and I shook the tree.  I just about got pummeled by everything that fell out but today we’ll start by saying while we’ve favorably blogged on Judge Barbier’s rulings in post Katrina insurance litigation his latest ruling is way off base IMHO. In fact it stinks folks.

Luckily for everyone Rebecca Mowbray at the T-P joined the party today and advanced the discussion by disclosing a somewhat open secret that Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is feuding with Gov Jindal and both have legal teams with snouts firmly entrenched in the BP trough supposedly representing the State of Louisiana by pissing on each other. What Mowbray left out was that Caldwell’s contract council, Allan “Show me the Money” Kanner and Judge Barbier have also been clashing repeatedly in the courtroom and it that was addressed in the Judge Barbier’s Order and Reasons:

The Louisiana Attorney General has objected to the creation of a hold-back account insofar as it applies to the State of Louisiana. Louisiana is one of only two Gulf Coast states that have filed claims in this MDL, the other being Alabama. Notably, the Attorney General for the State of Alabama long ago reached agreement with the PSC to work cooperatively to further their joint or aligned interests. Largely for this reason, the Court appointed Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange as Coordinating Counsel for the Gulf Coast States. The Court has on multiple occasions encouraged the State of Louisiana to cooperate with the PSC and the State of Alabama insofar as their interests are aligned versus the Defendants in this complex MDL. Rather than cooperate or attempt to work collaboratively, the State of Louisiana, through its retained private counsel, has instead often obstructed and frustrated the progress of the litigation. Continue reading “Competing Conflicts of Interest cause Gulf Coast Claims Facility to suspend payments: A periodic report from the gutter where its all going down.”

Bum deal – a fresh look at the “common benefits” of mass claims

Comments – both on blog and in email contacts – about today’s post, Bum steer, have prompted a fresh look at the “common benefits” of mass claims.

However, less I be misunderstood,  it’s important to start this post recognizing the work of plaintiffs’ lawyers following Hurricane Katrina.  Working largely on a contingency fee basis, some at great personal sacrifice, they opened the door to justice for many who would have otherwise had both their damage claim and justice denied.  Admittedly, some eventually made a lot of money,particularly those who also invested a lot of money; others not so much; and. a few probably lost money; but, pay day, if it came at all, didn’t come until after a case had been decided or settled and then some.

Even then, the result did not always fully compensate plaintiffs for their loss or plaintiffs’ attorneys for their cost; but, individual cases are a different matter from a mass claim action – cases where a win can be a loss for everyone but the lead attorneys representing the class or mass of plaintiffs,  cases such as the one subject to this recent 5th Circuit opinion.

A federal appeals court…rejected a $21 million settlement of Hurricane Katrina damage claims that some residents had complained was unfair, and that one group said would have entitled residents and businesses to as little as $40 each.

“Hope is not an investment strategy;” yet, many were left with nothing else following Hurricane Katrina – $40, however, would hardly buy gas to drive a “chevy to the levee” and jump in.  Such hopeless results, no doubt, are behind the concerns SLABBED readers have expressed about the oil spill litigation before Judge Barbier. Continue reading “Bum deal – a fresh look at the “common benefits” of mass claims”

Bum steer – Barbier adds goverment liasions to Steering Committee but denies motion for special government track in oil spill litigation

Oil and water don’t mix – and, apparently,federal and state Attorneys General feel likewise about having their claims overseen by the “big money pot in the little one” Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee appointed by Judge Barbier.

Rebecca Mowbray reports one chapter of the story in the Money section of today’s Times-Picayune:

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier told participants in the BP oil spill litigation Friday that he wasn’t trying to deny the state of Louisiana a voice in the proceedings when he rejected a motion for a special government track Thursday. He’s just trying to make the litigation more efficient, Barbier said…

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell…[a]Appearing at his first monthly oil spill status conference Friday morning, Caldwell said he wasn’t reassured by what Barbier said and is evaluating the state’s legal options.

“The state’s claims are still subject to the plaintiffs steering committee,” Caldwell said, noting that Barbier also didn’t rule on Louisiana’s request to bar private attorneys from sharing any proceeds ultimately due to the state. With Gulf Coast Claims Facility Administrator Kenneth Feinberg settling claims and removing plaintiffs from the litigation, the concern is that public recoveries could become the deepest pockets in the litigation, and that governmental bodies could be forced to share if they’re operating under the auspices of the plaintiffs committee.

Meanwhile, Mississippi’s Attorney General Jim Hood wants Barbier to take control of the claims process: Continue reading “Bum steer – Barbier adds goverment liasions to Steering Committee but denies motion for special government track in oil spill litigation”