Transocean may make multimillion profit from the oil disaster

[suffragette]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-f-blizzard/bp-and-transocean-try-to_b_576744.html

As lawsuits continue to mount against oil giant, BP, and drilling contractor, Transocean, both companies are engaging in full scale efforts to limit their liability for the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20th that has claimed the lives of several workers, injured many others and left unknown thousands whose livelihoods depend on the Gulf in financial ruin.

Similarly, Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig has submitted a petition in a Houston federal court claiming that its liability for the accident is limited to $27 million under the Limitation of Liability Act, a maritime law enacted in 1851. Under the Act, a vessel owner can limit its liability to the value of the vessel and its freight.

Transocean asserts that the current value of the Deepwater Horizon rig is $27 million and thus, under the law, its liability must be limited to that figure. However, this law was passed 160 years, before insurance companies began offering coverage to seafaring vehicles and Transocean has already received a payout of $400 million from its insurance provider. Allowing it to limit its liability to $27 million would actually allow Transocean to potentially profit from the oil spill.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7003248.html

Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank last month killing 11 and creating a growing oil spill, today got a Houston judge to stay pending cases against the company.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison today issued an order suspending cases against Transocean because the company filed a request to limit its liability in the lawsuits filed against it to $26.7 million.

Lawyers involved in the litigation say that Transocean’s request, if successful, could result in Ellison’s court sucking up some other litigation that names Transocean and stems from this same incident. A list of 102 lawsuits already filed against the company was filed with the court today.

"Transocean has compounded this terrible tragedy with a shameful legal filing that is intended solely to protect the company’s interests," said Houston lawyer Kurt Arnold who has filed several lawsuits resulting from the offshore explosion.

So the owner is holding a closed door meeting to distribute dividends: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8336493
And the corporation can potentially make a multimillion profit directly from this disaster.

Meanwhile the environment, the wildlife and people's lives are completely destroyed by this.

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