BP faces billions in fines as trial for 2010 oil spill nears

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20043946

 What makes this trial so good for plaintiffs -- and a nightmare for BP, Halliburton and Transocean -- is that the spill was a chronicle of corporate failures. Federal investigators have concluded cost-cutting by BP and shoddy work by all three companies caused the blowout.

"It's the perfect case for plaintiffs' lawyers," said Blaine LeCesne, a tort law specialist at Loyola University New Orleans who's analyzed the case. "They have everything to gain by going to trial."

While the settlement haggling stretches through the weekend, the hundreds of lawyers who have come to New Orleans are primed for battle.

Garret Graves, an aide to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and a member of a federal and state council assessing damage from the spill, was adamant that any last-minute settlement in the price range of $20 billion would let BP off too easily.

"We're not going to sell short the citizens and we're not going to let BP walk away," Graves said.