MIAMI — BP was successful in it's recent attempt to dismiss a personal injury lawsuit involving the Deep Water Horizon oil spill, a case that was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida due to what a federal judge called the plaintiff's and his attorney's "complete lack of respect for the court."
According to the June 19 court filing, defendants BP America Production Company and BP Exploration & Production Inc., petitioned the court for a motion for sanctions and a dismissal of a suit filed by plaintiff Alejandro Nelson.
Nelson, who originally filed his case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, alleged he suffered personal injuries while doing clean-up work after the oil spill. Nelson failed to attend court-ordered mediation regarding the case with only his attorney being present. BP argued for the dismissal and sanctions due to Nelson's "delay and failure to comply with court orders" and his failure "to engage meaningfully in discovery."
The court agreed that sanctions were appropriate and that they were entitled to "recover the expenses they incurred" regarding the mediation including lodging, mediation fee and attorney's time spent in mediation preparation.
The court also agreed the case should be dismissed due to the plaintiff's "failure to adhere to deadlines" which could not "be attributed to negligence, confusion or inadvertence."
U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom stated that Nelson and his attorney's "conduct in this case evinces a complete lack of respect for the Court" while dismissing the case with prejudice and ruling that the court will retain jurisdiction so that the awarding of sanctions could be enforced.