If I were BP…, Escrow Accounts…., Following Exxon’s Lead…., and Leveraging U.S. Court System Biases.

As much as I hate to blog such, if I were British Petroleum (BP) and I were being asked to set up escrow accounts to cover clean up and lost wages damage claims from this recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, I would tell the U.S. Federal Government that I planned to follow the lead of Exxon Corporation and its Valdez disaster. As such, I would set up no account, pay only for clean up, pay no damages until court ordered, and stall the matter in Federal Court for thirty years or so. After all, the U.S. Federal Court system only seems to be concerned for corporate interests and cares little for the well-being of the U.S. citizenry, as displayed by several decisions including the Supreme Court’s recent Exxon Valdez ruling wherein damages against Exxon were significantly reduced. In recent times, The Supreme Court seems to care little about ruined livelihoods of the U.S. populace, regardless of the name of the corporate-type wrong doer. So, why should BP care about any stewardship and any requested escrow account by the government? It is worth noting, however, that the only bias the U.S. Court system may display more consistently than a preference for corporate litigants is the unfettered bias for official U.S. government litigants.

Truthfully, however, if I were BP, I would do whatever I could to make the situation right and proper. I was merely making the point that Exxon paid as little as possible through the Valdez ordeal and the U.S. Federal Court System rewarded Exxon for its tactics. Also, even with my minimal litigation skills, I could easily make a sound argument that BP is not even liable for the damages to the U.S. mainland. So, the fact that BP seems willing to do the right thing, well….. this appears to be a good thing. And, to the affected states on the Gulf coast, as fellow Americans, we will not forsake you.
AVT



see: http://engineeringandcommerce.blogspot.com/2010/06/deepwater-horizon-bp-us-mms-agency-why.html