Rachel Clingman, Transocean's lead lawyer in the Deepwater Horizon explosion, testified to Congress that the reason Transocean filed the legal papers to limit its exposure to 26.7M was because its insurance carriers forced them to file the petition.
I find this explanation highly dubious for a couple of reasons.
First, generally, insurance companies cannot force their insureds to take legal positions which the insured believes in inappropriate or improper, i.e., the insured (in this case Transocean) has much more influence on the litigation process than Ms. Clingman implies.
Second, and perhaps more important, involves the matter of timing. There was no legitimate reason that I can see for Transocean to file its Limitation of Liability Proceeding so quickly after the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The reason Transocean filed the petition so quickly has absolutely nothing to do with the insurance companies forcing it do file and everything to do with Transocean limiting its own liabilty and seeking the best venue for the lawsuits.
Ms. Clingman is a very talented lawyer. My firm tried a wrongful death case against her for 3 weeks a few years back and she fought us on every front.
I anticipate that with Ms. Clingman taking the lead on the Transocean Deepwater Horizon litigation that folks with legal claims against the company will be in for a long, expensive, hard-fought battle.
Category: BP Oil Spill Injury Claims
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