For the hundreds of thousands of victims of the ever-worsening environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, many are left to ponder what the future holds for them in the wake of the economic and environmental losses that has forever changed their lives. One likely outcome of this whole debacle, aside from the drastic lifestyle changes for gulf coast area residents, will be the forthcoming litigation against British Petroleum (BP), the owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, as well as their primary contractors Halliburton and Transocean, and perhaps other firms yet to be named in the forthcoming mass torts or class action lawsuits that will most certainly be filed in United States federal and state court systems in the coming months and years.
These forthcoming class action lawsuits are also referred to, mostly in legal circles, as mass torts, which are defined as civil lawsuits involving numerous plaintiffs against one or more corporate defendants in state or federal court. As the name implies a mass tort includes many plaintiffs and law firms have often used the mass media to reach possible plaintiffs, including the internet, television and radio. Some of the different kinds of mass torts include mass disaster torts, which is the more relevant reference for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as well as mass toxic torts, and product liability torts.
Regardless of the terminology being used to classify the collective actions of victims of the BP oil spill in seeking compensation for their economic and personal losses up and above what is currently being offered through the recently created $20 Billion BP Gulf Oil Spill Fund and the many state and charitable gulf spill relief funds that have cropped up recently, the end result has the same intention, namely that each individual law firm bringing such class action suits on behalf of their clients will seek to get the maximum award possible for their client’s economic losses and personal suffering as a result of the negligent actions of BP, their contractors and perhaps other 3rd party corporations that were involved in some negligent and liable way. Because each firm will litigate their cases differently, and courts will also reach different conclusions about each individual class action case, its important for you to choose the best possible oil spill attorney or law firm who will give you the highest probability of the most favorable outcome (ie: highest monetary award) for your particular case and situation.
In sum, if you or someone you know has suffered economic and/or personal losses as a result of the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, you may be entitled to additional compensation up and above what may or may not already have been offered to you from BP or the recently created Gulf Oil Spill Relief Fund. Contact an experienced class action attorney who is prepared to file a legal claim on your behalf, and who has a solid track record of winning large class action judgments in court – your future depends on it!
