The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) held a hearing in Boise, Idaho, on July 29, 2010, to determine whether the Deepwater Horizon oil spill cases in federal court should all be consolidated and, if so, which court should handle the cases. There are over 300 cases currently pending in federal courts, with over 250 of them filed as putative class actions. Over 200 attorneys were at the hearing today.
The most entertaining speaker may have been New Orleans mass tort litigator Russ Herman, who told the court:
“Our culture rises as a gumbo of Cajuns, Creole, French, German and Spanish,” he said. “All of that is threatened now. This disaster threatens our hope and faith. That’s why New Orleans is the best avenue of justice.”
“We rise out of our myth, our metaphor, our mystery, our seafood and our music, which now is threatened, and the threat of our culture threatens our hope and our faith. You have an opportunity to focus the world on this country, on this disaster, so it won’t happen again. Assist us in our resliiency.”
For more quotes from and about today’s hearing, check out my oil spill attorneys post at BPOilNews.com.
