Gulf oil spill trial postponed; complex issues involved

NEW ORLEANS -- The stories soon to unfold in a federal courtroom here are just the beginning of one of the biggest environmental cases in U.S. history: the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster and its multibillion-dollar impact on the Gulf Coast and its people.

With record-breaking penalties and the ecological and economic health of the Gulf on the line, the case is likely to take years to resolve. But experts say important lessons and decisions will be made that will put the unprecedented catastrophe into perspective.

The trial, which was to begin today, has been rescheduled until next Monday to allow both sides in the case another week to work out a potential settlement, according to a statement released Sunday by plaintiffs' attorneys and BP, one of the main defendants in the case. It was unknown whether a settlement would postpone the trial indefinitely.

Experts and legal academics, along with national and international media in town to cover the trial, still anticipate one of the biggest, most important trials in U.S. history.

"This clearly eclipses any prior environment case we've ever seen," says Blaine LeCesne, an associate professor at Loyola University New Orleans' College of Law. "This will be the largest environmental tort case in history."

Just as the Exxon Valdez disaster became a cornerstone of U.S. environmental history over 20 years ago, the BP oil trial will put a magnifying glass on the powerful companies behind the nation's oil business — and how bad things can get when they make mistakes.

About 120,000 plaintiffs have filed a combined 535 lawsuits. The trial centers on the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, which killed 11 workers and unleashed the largest oil spill on U.S. waters.

Many of the fishermen and business owners hurt by the spill are betting their livelihoods on the proceedings. Before the spill, George Barisich, 56, a St. Bernard Parish shrimper and oyster farmer, would sell 5,000 to 8,000 sacks of fresh oysters a year. He's sold only 300 sacks in the two years since the spill, he says.

Freshwater diversions opened by state officials to repel the encroaching oil killed many of the oysters in his reefs. He's earned only a fraction of the $500,000 he was projected to make in the two years since the spill, and his 400 acres of oyster reefs need about $400,000 worth of harvesting and fixing, he says.

Last year, administrators of the $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP offered Barisich a $25,000 final payment, and earlier payments by the fund weren't enough, he says. He turned it down, called his lawyer and joined a lawsuit with 800 other Louisiana fishermen. He realizes the trial is a gamble but says he has little choice: "It's a high-stakes, hard game, and my life's on the line."

BP, which owned the well; Transocean, the rig's owner; and Halliburton, which provided cement services, all are named as defendants. A report last year by the National Oil Spill Commission spread blame among all three for not properly evaluating risk in the well design, not designing a better cement mixture for the well and not recognizing early signs of the underwater blowout that led to the explosion. Witnesses will include scientists, energy experts and high-level BP executives.

Trial could go to Supreme Court