The FMCSA has extended its hours-of-service waiver for truckers who are hauling supplies and equipment to the Gulf for use in the oil spill containment and cleanup. Please see my earlier blog here. The original waiver was set to expire Friday, but now it will continue to May 30. Click here for more detail. Immediate relief from certain regulations on motor carrier transportation is necessary to ensure timely delivery of essential equipment and supplies, including specialized oil well equipment to seal the ruptured well head, and booms, skimmers, chemical dispersants, flammable liquids and other oil containment equipment.

An explosion and fire on an oil drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010 and the subsequent sinking of that rig have resulted in a major oil spill, known as the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, in the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting oil slick has damaged or is threatening the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Emergency measures are underway to respond to the oil spill and slick.

Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in the Gulf killing 11 and causing a catastrophic and growing oil spill, has true to form gone to court to try and limit its liability. Transocean is the world’s largest offshore drilling company posting a profit of $3 billion just last year, but felt it necessary to file a request in federal court in Houston to try and limit its liability in this economic and ecological disaster to around $27 million.

Lawyers for Transocean filed the request to take advantage of the Limitation of Liability Act, a maritime law that allows vessel owners to limit their liability to the value of the vessel and its freight. Transocean said through a spokesman that the action was taken on instruction from its insurers. Quietly, Transocean has already been paid over $400 million by its insurers for the loss of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

So now we have a hugely profitable drilling company who is now compounding the misery of the victims of the explosion for the sole and selfish reason to protect the company’s owners and investors. Despite the very public pronouncements by the companies involved that they will pay for the damages the explosion has caused, their actions show a more self-centered approach. Reports have already surfaced of survivors being forced to sign affidavits upon reaching shore that they were not injured and knew nothing about the cause of the explosion, affected fishermen being offered one time cash payments which included a hidden waiver of liability, and now this run to the courthouse for liability protection.

Somehow I doubt the families of the survivors of the explosion get a warm, fuzzy feeling about the ultimate outcome of their claims when they see the companies begin to take actions to protect their bottom lines instead of adequately and quickly compensating the victims.

The Wall Street Journal’s popular Law Blog, has again featured Attorney Richard J. Arsenault for his role in the Toyota litigation, this time calling him a “big gun” amongst attorneys who were in competition for leadership roles against Toyota.

The Law Blog also mentioned his “national notoriety,” as within the past few months, Arsenault has been featured multiple times by Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR, Associated Press, CBS, BBC, and others for his developing roles in both the Toyota litigation and the litigation stemming from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Known widely for chairing critical litigation conferences, including two on the Toyota Recall Litigation, Arsenault was appointed by Judge James Selna earlier today to serve on the Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel Committee for Economic Loss.

Arsenault , who according to the WSJ Law Blog, “hosts must-attend legal seminars on the hot cases of the moment,” has several conferences on the calendar, including three scheduled on the BP oil spill, two on mass torts and other speaking events on a range of topics from foodborne illness to Federal court pleadings.

Judge James Selna has appointed Richard J. Arsenault to serve on the Plaintiff’s Lead Counsel Committee for Economic Loss in the multidistrict litigation against Toyota Motor Corp.

Earlier this year, all class action lawsuits stemming from Toyota’s ongoing problems with unintended acceleration in its vehicles were consolidated into a single court in Santa Ana, California. At that time, Judge Selna was selected as the federal judge that would preside over the cases.

In this newly appointed leadership position, Attorney Richard J. Arsenault will help direct the litigation against Toyota for the economic losses linked to the devaluation of its vehicles.

A veteran of class actions and complex litigation, Arsenault filed several class action lawsuits against Toyota and chaired two Toyota Recall Litigation Conferences, which were referred to as “must attends” by the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, Arsenault has been featured for his role against Toyota by NPR, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Reuters, CBS and other national and international media sources.

A key safety device known as the blowout preventer used in Transocean’s drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf had a hydraulic leak and other problems that suggest malfunction from working as designed, according to a congressional investigation. The device known as “blowout preventer” or “BOP” is the last line of defense against a well blowout and oil gushing into Gulf waters by sealing the pipe hole at the surface of the oil well. The congressional committee said that there were at least “four significant problems with the blowout preventer” used on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig. Rep. Henry Waxman says that his committee’s investigation into the Gulf oil spill reveals that a key safety device, the blowout preventer, had a leak in a crucial hydraulic system.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said that a 2001 report by Transocean, which made the device, indicated there can be as many as 260 failure possibilities in the equipment. “How can a device that has 260 failure modes be considered fail-safe?” asked Stupak. Stupak said BP confirmed in documents that a leak had been found in the hydraulic system that provides emergency power to a part of the blowout preventer. When a remote underwater vehicle tried to activate the safety device a loss of hydraulic pressure was detected, said Stupak. When dye was injected “it showed a large leak coming from a loose fitting,” said Stupak, citing BP documents. Also reported, BP confirmed that the blowout preventer had been modified so that one of its ram drivers could be used for routine testing and was no longer designed to activate in an emergency. He said after the spill BP “spent a day trying to use this … useless test ram.

Rep. Waxman said in a hearing that the investigation also discovered that the well had failed a negative pressure test just hours before the April 20 explosion. He cited BP documents received by the Energy and Commerce Committee that showed there was a breach in the well integrity that allowed methane gas and possibly other hydrocarbons to enter the well.

Sen. Robert Adley (R-Benton), with the enthusiastic backing of the Louisiana Chemical Association, has filed legislation which would limit types of lawsuits filed by law clinics that receive state funds. The bill would make the Legislature overseer of the law clinics and put the future role of university law clinics up in the air.

Adley’s bill would forbid law clinics at both public and private colleges from suing governmental agencies, individuals and businesses for financial damages or raising constitutional issues. The clinics give college law students real-world experience while working free of charge on behalf of the public.

In the past, the Tulane University law clinic has opposed the oil, gas and utilities sector on issues of environmental regulations and violations.

One has to wonder if Senator Adley’s motives are actually his own or that of his financial backers in the well-heeled energy field. Muzzling free speech and the activities of the well-intentioned law clinics is ill-advised, and smacks of a longtime politico doing the bidding of a powerful industry which does not want inquiries into its dumping of hazardous waste and byproducts into our state’s fragile environment and ecosystems.

Our legislature has a track record of passing legislation that benefits the business community and some of the wealthiest corporations at the expense of rights of injured employees, victims of negligence and hazardous activities without adequate recourse to recover their damages.

The Louisiana State Bar Association is proud to announce that it will be sponsoring the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Symposium on May 25, 2010 in New Orleans.  A talented faculty is being assembled to address the complex issues associated with this tragic spill.  Professor Tom Galligan and Richard J. Arsenault will be serving as the Co-Chairs.

Topics will include:

• The Economic and Environmental Impact
• Potential  Claimants and Recoverable Damages
• Limitation of Liability Act
• Oil Pollution Act
• Anatomy of a semi submersible drilling rig
• Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund
• Class definitions
• The role and function of regulatory agencies
• The contractual relationships between the parties
• Blowout Preventers
• Remote-control shut-off devices
• RICO
• The cleanup effort
• Justice Department and Congressional Investigations
• Attorneys General actions
• Activity by Environmental Groups
• Types and qualifications of experts involved in this litigation
• Punitive Damages
• Coast Guard  and MMS investigations
• Governmental claims
• Status of Multi-District Litigation

THOMAS C. GALLIGAN, JR. is currently the President of Colby-Sawyer College. He served as the Dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law from 1998-2006 and was a professor at LSU Law School from 1986-1998.   He has published and spoken extensively on maritime law and his scholarship has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Louisiana Supreme Court, other courts, and commentators.  His co-authored scholarship with Professor Frank L. Maraist has been honored by the Tulane Law Review and the Louisiana Bar Journal.

RICHARD J. ARSENAULT has been involved in maritime litigation for 30 years. He is a former Chair of the AAJ Admiralty Law Section and has chaired the Louisiana Bar Association’s Annual Admiralty Symposium since its inception 17 years ago. He has published and spoken extensively on maritime topics and his scholarship has appeared in various publications including the Maritime Lawyer, the Maritime Law Reporter, Trial Magazine and the La. Bar Journal. Arsenault is the current Chair of the Louisiana Bar Association’s Section on Insurance, Negligence, Worker’s Compensation and Admiralty Law.  Twice a year,  Arsenault, Professor Galligan and several Federal Court Judges participate in panel presentations designed to review recent maritime developments.  Arsenault also serves on the LSU Law School Trial Advocacy Faculty.

Nissan Motor Co. has issued a recall of over 100,000 Infiniti G35 sedans and coupes from model years 2005-2007 after discovering a connector problem that causes airbags to fail to deploy during a crash. Although no accidents involving injuries have been reported to the company as a result of the defect, Nissan is taking the precaution of an early recall in the wake of the Toyota scandal. Despite knowing of numerous unanticipated acceleration problems causing accidents and injuries, Toyota failed to timely notify the public of the problem and now faces numerous lawsuits and federal fines.

Federal safety officials have said that in the Nissan situation, the wiring that holds the airbags in place may wear down enough to interrupt the signal to deploy the airbags. It appears from this preemptive action, Nissan has learned from the mistakes Toyota made and is erring on the side of caution and consumer safety.

Neblett, Beard & Arsenault founder, Richard J. Arsenault, was interviewed by Wade Goodwyn on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition earlier today.

Arsenault, who has filed multiple class action lawsuits in the explosion, sinking and oil spill of Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon, was interviewed about the legal strategies in place in what could become the largest class action litigation in the nation’s history. He also discusses the possible defenses and tactics that BP, Transocean and other companies involved in the spill may employ in order to limit their liability in the disaster.

Richard Arsenault, a veteran of complex and class action litigation, represents Gulf coast residents and businesses whose lives and livelihoods have been adversely affected by the spill. He has filed lawsuits in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida against BP, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron. He will also chair two upcoming oil spill litigation conferences including the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Oil Spill Symposium and the Oil Spill Litigation Conference for HarrisMartin Publishing.

To listen to Wade Goodwyn’s interview of Richard Arsenault on NPR, click here.

HarrisMartin Publishing has asked Attorney Richard J. Arsenault, founding partner of Neblett, Beard & Arsenault, to serve as chair for the Toyota Recall Litigation Conference, Part II today in Costa Mesa, CA.

The recall litigation conference, a follow-up to the widely publicized Toyota Litigation Conference held in San Diego this March, is scheduled on the eve of the inaugural Toyota Multidistrict Litigation Status Conference before the newly appointed Judge James V. Selna.

Richard J. Arsenault, a veteran of complex and class action litigation, has filed multiple lawsuits against Toyota as a result of the automaker’s on-going problems with sudden unintended acceleration in its vehicles. Under his leadership as co-chair, March’s Toyota Recall Litigation Conference was well-attended by over 100 plaintiff and defense attorneys. The event was profiled by the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, National Public Radio, Bloomberg News, CBS, TV Tokyo, Nippon TV and other members national and international media.

Today’s conference boasts an impressive line-up of speakers, including some of nation’s most preeminent attorneys, many with decades of experience handling large, complex national cases. The curriculum will cover a number of issues pertaining to the unique circumstances of the Toyota recall and resulting litigation.