Sunday, May 30, 2010
Judge Lynn Hughes
BP, operator of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, is pushing for a single judge in Houston—who has friendly ties with the oil industry—to handle the nearly 100 lawsuits so far filed against the company.
BP’s choice is U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, a 25-year veteran who was first appointed by President Ronald Reagan, and who has been compensated for traveling to ethics lectures he’s presented before the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a professional organization that works with oil companies, including BP.
The Miami Herald has reported that Hughes has “collected royalties from several energy companies, including ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy, from investments in mineral rights.”
BP’s justification for having Hughes assigned to the 98 civil cases is based on the fact that he already is hearing one class-action case filed by a group of Vietnamese-American fishermen affected by the oil spill, and that he has experience presiding over complex, multi-jurisdictional cases.
The decision of where to assign the lawsuits rests with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which is expected to decide by July if the BP suits will be consolidated in a single court and if Hughes will oversee all of them.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
BP Wants Houston Judge with Oil Ties to Hear Spill Cases (by Scott Hiaasen and Curtis Morgan, Miami Herald)
Hon. Lynn N. Hughes (The Robing Room)
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