200+ Lawyers Meet in New Orleans to Discuss BP Lawsuits

According to Bloomberg, a group of about 200 personal injury lawyers gathered in New Orleans on Wednesday to discuss combining their many pending lawsuits against BP and co-defendants Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron.

The report by Laurel Brubaker Calkins states that Daniel Becnel is the lawyer leading the charge to combine the more than 70 lawsuits that are currently pending in various courts. He is quoted as stating that if the judicial panel agrees to combine the cases, the trial "could all be over in 90 days" as he plans to request a summary judgement of the case in favor of the many businesses and property owners affected by the oil spill.

Mr. Becnel has a history of dealing with large class action lawsuits, going after such varied concerns as a Penile Implant case against Bristol-Meyers, hundreds of cases against the manufacturuer of the diet drug Fen/Phen, and the Luling Ferry Disaster in which 78 people died.

Of more direct import to the current situation, he has been involved with cases against Shell, Exxon and Dupont Chemical for refinery and chemical plant accidents, as well as against other petroleum industry defendants including Oxy and United Gas Pipeline.