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South Florida Business Journal:

A Houston law firm on Monday filed a class action lawsuit related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill.

The Lanier Law Firm filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, representing Nova Affiliated SA, a Louisiana fishing company. The firm will seek to add other parties to the litigation.

The suit, related to the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon - owned by Swiss-based Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) and leased to U.K.-based BP PLC (NYSE: BP) - also names Cameron International Corp. (NYSE: CAM)) and Halliburton Energy Services, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) for being negligent in failing to properly inspect and maintain the rig.

"By consciously understating the magnitude of the leak, the defendants put the entire Gulf Coast region in increasing danger," attorney Mark Lanier said. "This oil will not simply evaporate off the water and, in two months, we're likely to be looking at a spill surpassing the Exxon Valdez disaster."

The Gulf supports a fishing industry with annual dockside sales of $660 million that employs (directly or indirectly) about 27,000 people in Louisiana alone and is second only in size to Alaska's fishing industry, according to IHS Global Insight.

Houston Attorney Mark Lanier in the South Florida Business Journal

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist amended his April 30 executive order to include Tampa Bay-area counties in his state of emergency declaration due to the oil spill. The declaration now includes Pinellas, Manatee, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Pasco and Hernando counties.

On Tuesday, Crist confirmed the announcement by Doug Suttles, CEO of BP, that Florida will receive a $25 million block grant for the initial state and local preparation and response costs for the oil spill.

"We will use the block grant from BP to take proactive measures to help prevent the devastating impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill," Governor Crist said in a news release. "We will continue to be vigilant and take every possible action to protect our beaches and the health and well-being of our residents and visitors."

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been designated the lead state agency for responding to potential impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill along Florida's shoreline. It has set up a Web site to provide updates on the spill.

In the meantime, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is calling for a federal investigation to determine why the accident occurred and why workers were unable to contain it. 

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2010/05/03/daily37.html

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