If you have a legal question or concern, then you should contact an attorney.  Please send us an email at gulfoilspill@emersonpoynter.com and we will respond to you quickly.

    On April 20, 2010, an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig leased by the oil company BP, set off a blaze that killed 11 crew members.  Two days later, it sank about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast and crude oil began streaming out of a broken pipe attached to a well that the rig had been drilling nearly a mile below sea level.  Attempts to shut down the flow, at first estimated that at about 42,000 gallons of oil a day, failed when a safety device called a blowout preventer could not be activated.  On April 28, government officials said the oil spill was leaking at a rate five times greater than the initial estimates.  As BP and federal officials scrambled for solutions, oil closed in on the fragile Louisiana coat and drifted toward the shores of Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.  On May 2, President Obama visited the scene of what he called a "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster."  

President Obama toured the region and afterwards stated that BP was responsible for the leak and should pay for it.  BP has even admitted that it is responsible for the explosion and resulting oil spill.  But, BP has been less than honorable in circulating settlement agreements that offer very little and take away a coastal resident's right to sue.  The Alabama Attorney General, for example, ordered BP to stop circulating such agreements in Alabama.

Please be very careful if you are asked to sign anything.  Instead, consider asking an attorney to help you.

    Emerson Poynter LLP is a leading class action litigation law firm that represents clients throughout the United States.  Today our firm represents many clients who are suffering damages due to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.  Our firm has joined Ragsdalle LLC in Birmingham, Alabama, to represent pillars of the fishing and marina industry, and high profile condominium management companies in Destin, Florida in an effort to protect the legal interest of those most affected by the oil spill.  This site is intended to help our clients and others with similar problems to keep informed of the both the environmental and legal issues.