By Brittany Mierzwa – On Monday January 18th, U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers of the Northern District of Florida announced the selection of a bellwether case in the Deepwater Horizon BELO litigation. Christopher F. Causey’s case was selected to go to trial as a test of more than 500 similar lawsuits related to the 2010 disaster on file in the Florida court. The Judge is handling cases filed by plaintiffs who were diagnosed with medical problems after the cut-off date set in a settlement agreement in the main multidistrict litigation based in Louisiana federal court.
‘Causey’s case was selected at random from a list of 10 individual suits raising claims over eye-related injuries – five submitted by the plaintiffs and five submitted by BP – according to the order.’
The 2010 Disaster, known as BP Deepwater Horizon, killed 11 people and caused 4 million barrels of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico. Clean-up workers like Mr. Causey worked extensive hours digging and picking up tar balls along the shore. Workers were exposed to oil and chemicals without proper protection as they cleaned the coast. Judge Rodgers set an August 23rd start date for a two-week trial.
URL (subscription): https://www.law360.com/trials/articles/1346163/bellwether-trial-set-for-fla-deepwater-horizon-cases
