This morning, Transocean filed a petition in the US District Court in Houston, seeking to limit its liability in the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers last month. The maritime injury attorneys at our office have been monitoring the developments related to the explosion, and had expected that the company would make a move like this.

Early this morning the Wall Street Journal reported that Transocean would likely file a petition today. Now the Houston Chronicle and other media publications are reporting that the company has filed a petition seeking to limit its liability.

A vessel owner may attempt to limit its liability after any major maritime accident. This often happens when a major maritime accident has occurred at sea, and the vessel owner wants to limit the amount of damages it is liable for. The semisubmersible oil rig Deepwater Horizon that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April, is considered a vessel, and therefore Transocean has moved to limit its liability in this explosion.

Transocean’s petition sets that limitation at just about $27 million. You have to remember this was a rig that was valued at more than $650 million before the explosion.

What the company is trying to do is delay the process of justice for the workers who were injured in the explosion, as well as the families of the 11 workers feared dead when the Deepwater Horizon went up in flames. It’s unfortunate that a company like Transocean that makes billions of dollars in profits every year, rushes to set limits on what it will be forced to pay out soon after an accident. It should be shocking, but unfortunately for a maritime attorney like me who has been up against Transocean in the past, it isn’t very surprising.

Vuk Vujasinovic is a Board Certified Houston personal injury attorney who practices Houston auto accident and other personal injury cases.

For more info on how Vuk can help you with your potential case please call him at (877) 724-7800 or fill out the contact form on the right.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.