Coon
Beaumont's Brent Coon and Associates will be one of the law firms responsible for gathering evidence for the litigation against BP over the Gulf oil spill.
Coon, who has past experience suing BP when he represented plaintiffs from the 2005 explosion at the company's Texas City refinery, was appointed by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier. Barbier is presiding over more than 300 suits that have been consolidated in New Orleans federal court.
More than 100,000 suits dealing with the spill have been filed in addition to the 300 consolidated cases.
According to the Beaumont Enterprise, evidence collecting will be split among six groups made up of six law firms each. The groups will report to the steering committee. Coon's firm will gather evidence from BP and Cameron International, the maker of the blowout preventer.
The groups will try to determine what companies are liable for the explosion and spill, but the percentage of liability will ultimately be up to a jury.
In addition to BP and Cameron International, Transocean, Halliburton and Anadarko Petroleum are named as defendants in the consolidated suits.