The trial for the BP Oil Spill, which occurred off the shores of New Orleans, has been postponed by a week to allow BP and lawyers representing a coalition of plaintiffs to agree on a possible settlement. Damages and government fines are predicted to possibly be in the tens of billions of dollars if the case against BP goes to court. New Orleans environmental litigation attorney Stuart Smith said, “This is the biggest liability suit in the history of the world. Just writing a check for this is not that easy. The damages are still occurring, and the oil is still washing up on the shores. The challenge for BP to settle now is there are too many moving parts.”
On April 20, 2011, BP’s Deepwater Horizon well exploded, killing 11 rig workers and spilling almost 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico for 86 days. According to recent reports, the vast majority of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico has disappeared, but the Louisiana shores continue to get washed up by black oil. The trial will begin on Mar. 5.
