Brian White  |  January 22, 2021

Category: Legal News

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The Deepwater Horizon Oil rig spill has led to a range of class action lawsuits and health issues. (Photo credit: bensib/DepositPhotos.com)A Florida man who has been dealing with eye problems allegedly caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill 11 years ago will serve as a test case for the hundreds still claiming harm from the disaster.

Christopher F. Causey’s case will represent the 504 lawsuits still outstanding from ordeal, Florida District Judge Casey Rodgers said in her order filed Jan. 11.

British Petroleum was found responsible for the disaster by a federal judge in 2014, which killed 11 and spewed more than 130 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Causey says he worked along the shores of Escambia County, Florida, for 12 hours a day cleaning up from the disaster. 

For a month without a day off he dug out tar balls from the sand and bagged them, exposing him to the oil, dispersants and other toxins, according to his initial complaint filed in 2018.

He says the exposure made him and other coworkers sick and reports developing chronic conjunctivitis and dry eye syndrome as a result. 

BP settles with a back-end litigation option

A resulting settlement deal from the disaster had BP agreeing to pay out at least $7.8 million to the roughly 100,000 claims it was facing at the time, according to The Associated Press

Hundreds of additional lawsuits claiming personal injury and property damage followed, eventually leading to a class action lawsuit that led to a settlement deal covering medically-related claims in 2012.  

A “back-end litigation option” (BELO) attached to that settlement allowed claims to be filed if symptoms from oil exposure manifested after. 

Causey, the plaintiff in the test case, is one of those people. His case was chosen randomly from a pool of claims offered by the plaintiffs and BP. 

“The Court finds that proceeding with one test case will be instructive and, in the long run, will facilitate a more efficient and fair grouping of cases,” Rodgers said.

Causey’s claim will move on a “fast track to trial,” Judge Rodgers said in the order and other cases stayed until his is resolved.  

Were you affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill? What do you think about the latest developments in the lawsuits against BP? Let us know in the comments below. 

Counsel from The Downs Law Group PA, Falcon Law Firm and The Nations Law Firm are representing the plaintiffs in this lawsuit.  

The Deepwater Horizon BELO Lawsuit is Case No. 3:19-cv-00963, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division. 

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17 thoughts onBP Deepwater Horizon oil spill claims move forward with test case

  1. Michaela Colwell says:

    I worked at sureway supermarket during the spill and live pm grand isle as well I quit topve away from the spill everyone that worked at the grocery store git settlements I dd nit ..ehy?,,

  2. Tom Norwood says:

    I was diagnosed with mds in May 2022. The only way you can get mds is from chemo, benzene and other chemicals. I worked on the beach st gulf shores and orange beach, Alabama right after the spill. The mds has now turned. Into aml

  3. Nicholas Gruich says:

    I filed a claim in 2012 before the deadline. They told me I never had a claim after the deadline was reached. I have a copy of a receipt of claim for economic loss. I also loved and owned a commercial building I was renting in zone A and lived in zone A as well. Medical claim also I need to look into. I’m a block off the beach in Biloxi, the gulf of Mexico. Can anyone help especially with the receipt of claim I have?

  4. David Wheat says:

    I worked on the oil spill every day for a year I have developed multiple health isues barrettes desease Parkinsons confusion memory loses wondering if any could be related?

  5. Nolan w allen says:

    My name is nolan allen i was contracted by bp and work the first 10 days with no protective gear . I am also part of the b e l o. Settelment but i do not have a lawer to help me . A byopsie shows Contact dermatitis saveer rash all over my body hav developed shortly after clean up of the Oil spill. A study by medline pluse 2021 Contact dermatitis medline pluse encyclopedia ( Contact dermatitis is not caused by an allargy but ruther the skins reaction to contact with coal and tar products ) is there any one that can help me get compensated by bp ? I called the downs law group and thay said to find a lawer here in Mississippi where i live ? Thanks Nolan Allen . Im also on facebook if anyone wants to reach me ?

  6. Melvin Hakes says:

    That’s way BP and Horizon is hoping that we all die before they have to compensate

  7. Joy says:

    My husband worked on a NOAA vessel involved in cleanup. He died of brain cancer in 2018.

    1. Mel hakes says:

      That’s way BP and Horizon is hoping that we all die before they have to compensate

  8. Sheri McDonald says:

    Both my husband and I worked in the BP clean up in N W Fl. We both have had unusual medical problems. Looking for an attorney

  9. john maas says:

    downs and nations are corrupt and will sell out their cases,they have left most in the dark,motioning to withdraw without notice to clients. this settlement should be revisited by the feds for corruption by psc federal judges and bp

    1. christopher mosley says:

      i agree

    2. christopher mosley says:

      YOU are correct why settle for anything if the chemicals were harmless ,they are getting away with murder the judges locally involve are allowing them to do whatever they please and who would negotiate a such a deal with bp and word it so unclear and the judge change it years after it out of the media,no doctors seem to want to even see you if you say bp name and tort law is not even mention in the aggreement they basically admitted i expose you take this change and later saying ohh it is harmless my god only in flordia.

    3. kj says:

      vengeance is mine saith the lord

    4. Michael Helmholtz says:

      Yes that’s what falcon is doing to me now. How do you prove it.

  10. Phebie Hollingsworth says:

    Add me please

    1. Herbert Johnson says:

      This is some political bull all the rich an wealthy people done got paid now it done come down to the sick an poor who can’t get what they was promised and entitled to I can’t even afford Medicare an my respiratory is getting worser and worser every year which I know they rather for us to die off before they help . I know people that done died of cancer an all every since working along that oil spill..

    2. Michaela Colwell says:

      I worked at sureway supermarket during the spill and live pm grand isle as well I quit topve away from the spill everyone that worked at the grocery store git settlements I dd nit ..ehy?,,

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