COURT SUMMARY OPENING REMARKS BP OIL DISASTER TRIAL NEW ORLEANS FEDERAL COURT NEW ORLEANS, LA FEBRUARY 25,

25, 2013
JIM ROY TORT LAWYER LAFAYETTE, LA OPENING STATEMENTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
Transocean is getting trashed in opening statement. Lawyer claims it knew of training problems as far back as 2004 Deepwater was run with a "run it until it breaks philosophy says lawyer Jim Roy Halliburton's lab "overworked understaffed and under supervised," says Jim Roy Halliburton employee to take a 30 minute smoke break just before #Deepwater blew. March 27 2010 - 2 weeks before disaster - Robert Bodek, BP geologist warned itll all be in Gods hands.

DOJ ATTORNEY UNDERHILL

Department of Justice lawyer Underhill says Deepwater was surrounded by chaos, paranoia and insanity before disaster.

LUTHER STRANGE ALABAMA AG

BP's "culture of corporate callousness" toward the gulf caused this spill, says Luther Strange. "Greed devastated the gulf."

BUDDY CALDWELL LOUISIANA AG

Over 212 miles of Louisiana coast continue to be polluted says James "Buddy" Caldwell of Louisiana. Hard to imagine what BP, Transocean, Halliburton are going to say this PM. They have been pulverized this am. BP's goal was to "save money and heck with the consequences" says Louisiana's James "Buddy" Caldwell. James "Buddy" Caldwell "this is a continuing tragedy to this very day" Louisiana's James "Buddy" Caldwell: "the whole world is watching".

TRANSOCEAN
Transocean lawyer says Transocean crew put too much trust in BP and "paid with their lives". Transocean's Brad Brian slamming BP. The Transocean crew "did their duty and they died". Brian: "They died, not because they weren't trained properly, but because critical information was withheld from them." The problem here was not rig or crew it was the well and the way BP mismanaged it. says Transocean. Macondo well described as "nightmare well" or "hell well" or "well from hell even before this disaster. La. AG Caldwell: "This case is really about the cost of doing business, not just in the Gulf of Mexico but in the world." Transocean: "The truth is BP was responsible for the tests from beginning to end and they botched it up" Transocean lawyer: Plugging well and abandoning would have cost over $10M, must seem cheap now. Transocean: "None of this had to happen it happened because BP was behind schedule and was rushing to get this well done." Trial is technical, but Transocean arguing 11 well trained men died and BP is to blame. This disaster was preventable. Was result of BP putting profits before people.

HALLIBURTON

BP "were making it up as they went" says Halliburton lawyer, with tragic results. Halliburton attacking BP and Transocean for failure to spot what was going wrong until it was too late. Evidence from BP executive also shown by Halliburton makes same point: correct negative pressure test would have avoided disaster Halliburton lawyer says BP/Transocean spent 13 minutes assessing a problem they should have shut down. Emails show BP originally said Halliburton did "great job". Now they want to blame the cement, says Godwin. Halliburton attacking BP efforts to blame cement failure on them. Design "a joint effort" says lawyer. Godwin: "That was then. This is now. Now they want to pass the buck." BP rejected and did not follow Halliburton's recommendations, says their lawyer. Halliburton closes up arguing BP is to blame for the loss of life of "11 wonderful men".

B P (BRITISH PETROLEUM)
BP are up. Lawyer Mike Brock says BP had industry standards in place. Let the blame sharing begin! Drilling is a "team sport" says BP's lawyer - as he tries to pick the team apart. BP argument in short: extraordinary event, mistakes were made by all, not "grossly negligent" Brock says just not true that BP was not telling Transocean about risks. BP and Transocean had a "tremendous record" until #Deepwater says Brock. Test misreading was "mistake made by several men from two different companies Brock Do you believe any of these men in the negative pressure test had an incentive to get it wrong?" BP: "This is not a situation that reflects a want of care or an intentional act to hurt someone. It was a mistake." Brock also dissecting timeline: April 20 2010 at 21:49 cumulative gain of 2K barrels. The "kick" was out of control. BP's Brock says Halliburton suffers from "the ABCs 'anything but cement" BP: Post-incident tests of [Halliburton's] cement do not indicate that the cement was stable.

Brock: was there anything BP could have done to turn Halliburton's unstable cement stable? Don't believe so.