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InvisibleBlack -> RE: Texas Entrepreneur to BP -- I Can Fix the Damn Oil Leak! (6/6/2010 3:13:07 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ThatDamnedPanda
Anyway, not much needs to come of them. If I'm not mistaken, all they need is a single misdemeanor conviction to throw out the $75 million statutory cap on damages. That's the key. Whether anyone goes to jail or not almost doesn't matter. The key is, a single conviction can mean billions - possibly tens of billions - in damages.
I think it's 50/50 whether BP is found guilty of any criminal charges, regardless of whether they were or were not actually negligent.
I would bet good money that before BP takes responsibility for any deep sea platform, that Transocean signs something saying that they've inspected the platform and certify that all the equipment is working and that it is safe to operate. After that, I have no doubt that BP has its own safety officer or inspector who goes overall of the equipment on the rig and verifies that it's in proper working order. Odds are that the captain or the manger in charge or whoever runs the thing also signs off that he's reviewed the safety inspection and approves the rig as safe to operate.
Reports have said that "everyone knew" that certain pieces of safety equipment were not working. Did anyone report it? Was the safety officer or the manager in charge notified? Did either of those two people report that an unsafe working environment existed?
I have no doubt that BP has a whole set of policies and procedures that have to be followed before any equipment can be used and that annually an independent third-party comes in and audits BP on whether those policies are acceptable and whether or not BP actually follows those policies.
So when this mess rolls into court, the CEO of BP is going to be able to say under oath that BP has policies and procedures regarding safety and the safe operation of deep water drilling equipment tha meet or exceed acceptable industry standards, that an independent third-party has audited BP on its compliance with those procedures and found them in compliance, that a safety inspection was conducted of the Deep Water Horizon and that it was certified as safe to operate by both Transocean and by BP's safety inspectors and that no reports of any violations were filed prior to the accident. If it turns out that the safety inspector certified the rig as safe when it was not, the CEO will also report that the minute this violation was identified, he was disciplined according to BP policy and procedure.
At this point, you would have to show that BP's senior management knowingly fostered a working environment where egregious safety violations were expected in pusuit of profits, and without a memo or a recorded phone conversation or meeting minutes or some such where this was explicitly stated, that is very difficult to do.
While I'm not familiar with deep water oil drilling, I've been through a couple of arbitrations based on violations in other industries (none, involving me, fortunately, I was there as a witness) and so I have a pretty good idea how they go.
However, if the government wants to find you guilty, they will find you guilty regardless of the evidence - so BP may be found guilty under any circumstances. In this case, BP will appeal, this thing will thrash around in court for 10 years until people aren't paying attention anymore, and at some point they'll settle the case - typically with a sum that sounds large enough that the politicians can claim they did good but small enough that it won't substantially hurt BP.
[Edited: Typos]
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