Barbier
The first settlement in a wrongful death case has been reached in the BP oil spill multidistrict litigation (MDL), according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
An order filed Jan. 13 and signed by District Judge Carl Barbier states that "all claims, causes of action asserted, or which could have been asserted" by Tracey Keppinger on behalf of Karl Kleppinger, who died when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.
The case was originally filed in Texas state court by Houston attorneys Steve Gorden and Frank Piccolo before it was removed to the MDL.
Eleven oil rig workers lost their lives and 17 were injured when the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank last April.
Court documents did not disclose the amount of the settlement. The order states that all charges against "Defendants and Intervening Defendants in this litigation have been fully and finally resolved."
The agreement come just over a week before the next MDL status conference on Jan. 21 in Barbier's court.
Federal MDL 2:10-md-02179