As BP struggles to recover from the numerous lawsuits arising from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the company is also being hit with yet more legal action over an alleged leak at their Texas City refinery.
Texas lawyer Tony Buzbee filed a class action lawsuit against BP last Tuesday (3rd August), on behalf of 2,000 complainants who have been affected by the alleged refinery leak. The story was published by the Telegraph, who reported that the claimants were seeking monetary compensation for numerous health problems associated to “acute benzene exposure”.
BP is accused of negligence in the lawsuit, in allegations similar to those made in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The company were forced to pay astronomical costs during the environmental disaster, and this latest case could cost them up to £10 billion (the amount named in the lawsuit).
It is not definitively known whether BP has professional indemnity insurance in place to cover compensation payments from either incident, although some reports suggest that the company is legally required to have some level of public liability insurance cover. One thing is certain, however; a complete lack of insurance cover could cost the company billions.