An attorney wants more than 100 lawsuits filed against BP and other companies involved in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill combined quickly in a single federal court to avoid what he called legal chaos that could delay potential payments of billions of dollars in damages.
Louisiana lawyer Daniel Becnel on Wednesday asked a federal judicial panel in Washington state to order the lawsuits in five Gulf Coast states centralized in New Orleans or a federal court elsewhere in Louisiana, the state so far hit hardest by the spill. There are currently about 130 lawsuits, although that list grows each day.
