State (La.) Prepares To Sue BP To Gain Access To Records

Source: AP

State Prepares To Sue BP To Gain Access To Records
by (AP) BATON ROUGE, La.


Baton Rouge, Louisiana - A month after state authorities requested details from BP PLC on individual oil spill claims, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell on Friday filed preliminary documents in anticipation of a lawsuit against the oil giant.

Caldwell said the petition for discovery, filed in state district court in Plaquemines Parish, was necessary because BP has been uncooperative regarding repeated requests to access the company's claims database.

"Today's petition is a request for a court to order BP to produce information that the state needs to monitor BP's claims process to ensure that our citizens are being treated fairly," Caldwell said in a statement.

Kristy Nichols, secretary of the state Department of Social Services, and Curt Eysink, executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, said in an interview Friday they first asked for the information in a May 3 conference call.

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Read more: http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/state-prepares-to-sue-bp-to-gain-access-to-records/893272/Jun-04-2010_9-38-pm/

BP needs to be supervised by all government entities.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-02/bp-gulf-spill-prompts-criminal-civil-investigations-by-u-s-.html

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Justice Department opened criminal and civil investigations into the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst in U.S. history.

“We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who has violated the law,” Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday. “This disaster is nothing less than a tragedy.”

Holder announced the probe at a news conference in New Orleans after President Barack Obama earlier in the day called the spill “the greatest environmental disaster of its kind in our history.” The president said, “My solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice.”

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More at link..

I know they are investigating, which is at least a start.