United States Temporarily Suspends BP From New Contracts - NYTimes.com

United States Temporarily Suspends BP From New Contracts - NYTimes.com: "WASHINGTON — Government officials have temporarily banned BP from new federal contracts because of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill that killed 11 workers and polluted hundreds of miles of Gulf of Mexico shoreline."
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it was taking the action because of BP’s “lack of business integrity” demonstrated by the accident and the company’s inability to curb the flow of oil into the gulf. BP pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal criminal charges arising from the disaster and agreed to pay $4.5 billion, including $1.26 billion in criminal penalties.

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Judge Kessler orders Tobacco Companies to Correct False Statements

In 1999 the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Consumer Protection Litigation filed suit against the tobacco companies. (DOJ archive)  After trial, in a massive 2006 "final opinion" U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler detailed lies the tobacco companies told and ordered them to correct the record publicly.  Among the most egregious was the denial that nicotine is addictive, particularly since the biggest seller - Marlboro - was fueled by the addition of ammonia which increased the amount of nicotine inhaled with the smoke. She found as fact:

Nicotine "Manipulation":  Defendants  Have Falsely Denied
that They Can and Do Control the Level of Nicotine Delivered
In Order to Create and Sustain Addiction.
For Decades, Defendants Have Recognized that
Controlling Nicotine Delivery, in Order to Create and
Sustain Smokers’ Addiction, Was Necessary to Ensure
Commercial  Success . .

Now Kessler has issued a remedial order. Among the statements are:

Corrective Statement A: Adverse Health Effects of Smoking
A Federal Court has ruled that the Defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking,1 and has ordered those companies to make this statement.2 Here is the truth:
• Smoking kills, on average, 1200 Americans. Every day.3
• More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.4
• Smoking causes heart disease,5 emphysema,6 acute myeloid leukemia,7 and cancer of the mouth,8 esophagus,9 larynx,10 lung,11 stomach,12 kidney,13 bladder,14 and pancreas.15
• Smoking also causes reduced fertility,16 low birth weight in newborns,17 and cancer of the cervix18 and uterus.19

The Citations are HERE on the blog Tobacco on Trial, which comprehensively covers U.S. v. Philip Morris.

BP Criminal Guilty Plea Fact Sheet - ELI

"The Environmental Law Institute has developed a fact sheet on the plea agreement between BP and the U.S. Department of Justice

On November 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an 
agreement with BP to resolve criminal charges against the company related to the Deepwater 
Horizon disaster.
This fact sheet sets out the main terms of the agreement. Keep in mind that:
 This agreement only addresses criminal charges. Civil claims against BP are still pending.
 This agreement only relates to BP. It does not address any other corporations or individuals.
For example, there are still pending charges against BP employees.
 The agreement must be approved by the court before it is finalized. If approved, BP cannot 
face any other criminal charges for conduct related to or arising out of Deepwater Horizon."

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BP steadily moving beyond Gulf spill disaster - SFGate

BP steadily moving beyond Gulf spill disaster - SFGate: "BP's $4.5 billion settlement of federal criminal charges announced Thursday is a record amount, and a significant sum of money.

Or, looked at another way, it's less than the $5.5 billion in profit the British oil giant made between June and September of this year.

BP is not fully past the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the 2010 explosion that killed 11 workers and led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. The company has so far set aside $42 billion to pay fines and damages resulting from the spill, and that amount may yet grow."

But the company is steadily resolving the spill's legal issues and has nearly met its target for asset sales to help pay for the spill's costs. In the process, BP PLC has reshaped itself into a somewhat smaller company — but one that's still a large and profitable force in the oil industry.

"The danger is not over," Christine Tiscareno an analyst at S&P Capital IQ in London. "But they are now a step closer" to moving beyond the disaster.

The biggest obstacle is a trial set for February in New Orleans to determine BP's civil liability. If a court finds that BP was grossly negligent in causing the spill, fines could be billions more than the company has estimated.

For instance, BP has reserved $3.51 billion for possible civil fines under the Clean Water Act. The act allows up to $17.6 billion in civil fines — maybe $21 billion depending on definitions of how much oil actually spilled into the Gulf — said Environmental Law Institute attorneys Jordan Diamond and Jay Austin.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/BP-steadily-moving-beyond-Gulf-spill-disaster-4041657.php#ixzz2DOMzAjJm



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Special report: Civil fine in Gulf spill could be $4,300 barrel | Reuters

Special report: Civil fine in Gulf spill could be $4,300 barrel | Reuters: "Reuters) - Just how many barrels of oil are gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon spill is a billion dollar question with implications that go beyond the environment. It could also help determine how much BP and others end up paying for the disaster.
A clause buried deep in the U.S. Clean Water Act may expose BP and others to civil fines that aren't limited to any finite cap -- unlike a $75 million limit on compensation for economic damages. The Act allows the government to seek civil penalties in court for every drop of oil that spills into U.S. navigable waters, including the area of BP's leaking well.

As a result, the U.S. government could seek to fine BP or others up to $4,300 for every barrel leaked into the U.S. Gulf, according to legal experts and official documents."

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New York Reassessing Building Code to Limit Storm Damage - NYTimes.com

Going beyond the New York City building standards saved the new municipal recycling plant from flood damage, the Times reports. - gwc
New York Reassessing Building Code to Limit Storm Damage - NYTimes.com: 
by Kirsten Luce

"In the countdown to Hurricane Sandy last month, construction workers on a teeming pier in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, rushed to strap down materials and move forklifts and excavators into half-built structures to shield them from the tempest to come.When a 12-foot storm surge swept through nearby streets and parking lots on Oct. 29, the raised recycling plant did not flood.But the real storm preparations had been accomplished six years earlier, when Sims Metal Management approved a design for a state-of-the-art city recycling plant that is rising at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal."

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A Failed Experiment - NYTimes.com

Private solutions vs, public planning is an American dilemma - and we picked the wrong one, in the view of Nicholas Kristof. - GWC
A Failed Experiment - NYTimes.com:
by Nicholas Kristof

 "[T]he lust for generators is a reflection of our antiquated electrical grid and failure to address climate change. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave our grid, prone to bottlenecks and blackouts, a grade of D+ in 2009.
So Generac, a Wisconsin company that dominates the generator market, says it is running three shifts to meet surging demand. About 3 percent of stand-alone homes worth more than $100,000 in the country now have standby generators installed.
`Demand for generators has been overwhelming, and we are increasing our production levels,' Art Aiello, a spokesman for Generac, told me.
That’s how things often work in America. Half-a-century of tax cuts focused on the wealthiest Americans leave us with third-rate public services, leading the wealthy to develop inefficient private workarounds."

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Customers sue JCP&L for outages after Hurricane Sandy | NJ.com

Customers sue JCP&L for outages after Hurricane Sandy | NJ.com:

"Twenty customers of Jersey Central Power & Light have filed suit against the utility for damages that resulted from losing power after Hurricane Sandy hit.
The Somerville attorney behind the allegations of negligence and consumer fraud filed today against the utility and its parent company FirstEnergy said he hopes the court grants class action status for the lawsuit so many more customers can join in.
"The real problem here is in the past year, 365 days, we’ve had two of these happen. As long as people say it’s OK, it will continue to happen more often and more often," said Britt Simon, who filed the suit and is also a plaintiff.
JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said today he couldn’t comment on the suit, but called Sandy the worst storm in the company’s history."

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Tenants in Storm-Damaged Lower Manhattan Are Filing Lawsuits - NYTimes.com

Tenants in Storm-Damaged Lower Manhattan Are Filing Lawsuits - NYTimes.com: by Vivian Yee

Napoli Bern - the lawyers who represented workers claiming injury in the World Trade Center demolition and removal operations - have filed suit on behalf of tenants who suffered flood damage losses in Manhattan.  Others will surely do the same.  One of the defendants, Cooper Square Realty, manages our 550 unit cooperative, wisely located at the highest natural point in Manhattan, 265 feet above sea level.  Plaintiffs will presumably point to recent engineering reports that warned of flood dangers.

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“Managerial Judging” – Judge Hellerstein defends his role in forcing a settlement in WTC cases | Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach

The plaintiffs lawyers borrowed $30 million at high interest to finance work done on contingent fee.  Patton Boggs and other defense firms funded by the FEMA-funed WTC Captive Insurance Co. got paid over $165 million in legal fees - as he work was done.  Guess whose fees got cut?  Was risk rewarded? - gwc
“Managerial Judging” – Judge Hellerstein defends his role in forcing a settlement in WTC cases | Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach: "Federal District Judge Alvin Hellerstein and his Special Masters Aaron Twerski and James Henderson have mounted a major defense of the court’s role in enhancing the settlement of the World Trade Center cleanup litigation by cutting attorneys fees and forcing defendants to sweeten the pot before he would “approve the settlement” – something the Rules gave him no power to do.  It is a fascinating case study of the pressures on lawyers who undertake complex contingent fee litigation, of the limitations on clients’ ability to meaningfully consent to settlement in aggregate litigation (RPC 1.2), the meaning of a reasonable fee (RPC 1.5), and the power of judges over plaintiffs lawyers working on contingent fee in MDL-type mass tort litigation." - GWC



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