BP Sued Over Endangered Species Harm -- But Will Anyone Collect?

[Are_grits_groceries]

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Many more additional lawsuits should be expected to follow. An oil company the size of BP (which paid a quarterly dividend just under 8% yesterday) has deep pockets and that is one way that the company might be expected to compensate for the tremendous harm it has caused and continues to case with every passing day.

However, experience shows that collecting damages from a company of this size is easier said than done.
Take the example of Texaco and the massive damage it caused across an enormous area in Amazonian Ecuador, polluting rivers and forests, generating cancer clusters among a number of indigenous tribes, some of which had never had any contact with modern civilization before this. (This story is the basis for the documentary film Crude and the eco-thriller Vapor Trails.)

A class action lawsuit seeking damages in the neighborhood of $27 billion was initiated in 1993. Texaco's parent company, Chevron has successfully managed to prolong the litigation for seventeen years, using one legal maneuver after another in order to avoid paying the damages and in the hope of eventually depleting the legal resources of the plaintiffs so that they will have to drop the action.

Many of the original plaintiffs have since died and their children wonder if they will live to see restitution paid. Chevron's general counsel stated that he would "fight until hell freezes over and then skate it out on the ice."
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rp-siegel/bp-sued-over-endangered-s_b_590284.html

Somehow, I don't believe BP's lawyers will be any more amenable either.