BP voiding fishermen's cleanup contracts unless they sign away their right to sue for damages

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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/bp-voids-fishermens-cleanup-contracts-in-la-cites-660372.html?cxtype=ynews_rss&imw=Y

BP voids fishermen's cleanup contracts in La., cites legal mix-up

By Christine Stapleton Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 12:11 a.m. Sunday, May 2, 2010

Posted: 12:05 a.m. Sunday, May 2, 2010

VENICE, La. - David Kinnaird, BP's liaison to Plaquemines Parish, spent Saturday night ripping up the contracts that hundreds of local commercial fishermen had signed to work for BP cleaning up the slick that could wipe out the local seafood industry.

It's not that BP didn't want to hire them. And there is nothing these fishermen would hesitate to do to save the bayous, canals and rivers where they and their families have made a living for generations - except this: Sign a contract with BP saying they will "hold harmless and indemnify … release, waive and forever discharge the BP Exploration and Production, Inc., its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, regular employees, and independent contractors … from all claims and damages" arising from helping to clean up the mess that BP has made.

No one wanted to waive the right to sue BP, but some fishermen, desperate for cash, signed the waiver anyway.

"I shouldn't have signed it," Louie Barthelemy said after leaving a three-hour training course for commercial fishermen interested in a BP cleanup job. Barthelemy was one of hundreds of fishermen who showed up at Boothville Elementary School on Saturday morning for the BP-sponsored class.