NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Magistrate Mary Shushan has ruled on behalf of BP to disallow certain email communications from an upcoming trial on Feb. 27 to delineate responsibility among companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and subsequent oil spill.
Shushan ruled that communications were often not within the scope of professional relationships and should be discounted. In addition, the magistrate determined some of the emails were clearly substitutes for phone calls, casual in nature and contained hearsay.
The plaintiff steering committee had sought to introduce the emails into the record.