Vessels of Opportunity Lawsuit Filed Against BP Oil

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(Mobile, Ala.) – The local law firm of Taylor Martino Rowan has filed the first of many Vessel of Opportunity or “VOO” lawsuits against BP Oil in relation to the oil spill that resulted from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion on April 20, 2010. The firm filed its first round of complaints last Friday, November 5, 2010, on behalf of citizens of south Mobile County, who participated in the VOO program. A total of six complaints were filed, with more to follow.

“We are trying to help citizens of our community who provided work for BP in their oil clean up operations and were denied payment by BP. These people were given a job, required to sign a contract, and were not paid in full for their services.” said Edward P. Rowan, an attorney with Taylor Martino. “ All we want is for BP to stand by their contract. Instead, what we see here is a recurring theme in BP’s oil spill payments – an initial payment to ‘calm the waters,’ and then a quiet withdrawal of their obligations.”

The suit arises from fact that BP breached their contract with the vessel owners in the VOO program. The BP contract, entitled “Master Vessel Charter Agreement,” required that the vessels be used exclusively in the VOO program, and could not be used for any other purpose. The contract also required a formal termination called an “Off Hire Dispatch Notification.” Many vessel owners were put on a standby position on or about July 22,2010 due to the supposed threat of Tropical Storm Bonnie.Termination letters were sent to vessel owners several weeks later, in most cases, on or about August 27, 2010. During this time, the vessel owners were still obligated to hold their vessels open pursuant to the terms of the BP contract; likewise, BP was obligated to continue to pay under the same contract. VOO participants are entitled to be compensated for the charter of their vessels from the time that they were put on standby, until they were provided the requisite “Off Hire Dispatch Notification.”

Related News Articles: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/11/boat_owners_who_participated_i.html http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_12032.shtml

The law firm of Taylor Martino will continue to pursue these claims for all participants of the VOO program that were not properly compensated. Please contact a personal injury attorney at Taylor Martino regarding the Vessels Of Opportunity Lawsuit.