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BP Defeated Thousands Of Suits By Sick Gulf Spill Cleanup Workers. But Not One By A Boat Captain
John Maas spent years purchasing and outfitting a 17-foot aluminum boat known as the Superskiff 1 so he could take people fishing for sea trout and flounder in the Gulf of Mexico.
But before the Mississippi captain could undertake his first charter trip in 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded 120 miles (193 kilometers) to the south, killing 11 workers and spewing millions of gallons of oil into the sea.
AP – VOR News Image
BP Defeated Thousands Of Suits By Sick Gulf Spill Cleanup Workers. But Not One By A Boat Captain
Maas’ life, like that of many others on the Gulf Coast, was affected by the calamity. When oil fouled the water, he stopped fishing and used his boat to help clean it up. It was unpleasant working in sweltering, humid weather in oily water near the chemical dispersion Corexit, which was used in large quantities to break up oil.
Maas reported that the Corexit smelled like burning brake oil and caused his eyes to weep and his skin to burn. “You were coughing and something like that. In an interview, he described it as being similar to tear gas.
Four years later, he was diagnosed with chemical-induced asthma. Today, the former Marine, who never smoked and was always in shape, exercising with his dog on the beach and keeping up with fishermen 15 years younger, gets winded just going around his deck at home.
BP received criminal fines for the catastrophe and would eventually spend billions of dollars to resolve claims for economic harm and environmental destruction. However, after more than a decade of litigation following the greatest offshore US oil spill, Maas may be the only person to receive a BP compensation for his injuries through an individual case. Thousands of identical cases have been dismissed without ever reaching a jury.
Maas triumphed where more than 99% failed due to his intelligence, stubbornness, and, ultimately, luck. His story exemplifies how difficult it is for workers who say they were sickened by the spill to secure adequate compensation.
Maas collaborated with four different law firms and even handled the matter on his own for months, writing motions longhand on white legal pads and mailing them by US mail.
According to a private copy obtained to The Associated Press, BP eventually agreed to pay Maas $110,000 12 years after the leak occurred. The corporation denied responsibility for his illness. BP declined to comment on the story, citing ongoing litigation.
“I know this is going to shorten my life tremendously,” Maas, 61, said of his sickness. “And I know I’m going to have continued issues related to the spill.”
At every turn, Maas narrowly averted the fates of others.
He initially hired The Nations Law Firm, based in Houston, but dismissed them in 2016 after legal bills reduced his $1,300 payout from a class-action settlement between BP and cleanup workers’ attorneys.
After two miserable years with another law company that was unable to file his federal lawsuit due to paperwork issues, Maas recruited a Miami-based firm that filed one in Louisiana in 2020.
They very instantly butted heads. According to Maas, the firm handed him a document stating that his eyes were sprayed with contaminated water as he was picking up tar balls.
“This was a scripted thing for the dudes who walked down the beach in the (protective) suits with a little shovel, and a broom, and a bag,” he went on to say. “I was a master boat captain.”
Maas didn’t like the error. He also wanted his case heard in Tennessee, where he had relocated. This time, the law firm dropped Maas.
AP – VOR News Image
BP Defeated Thousands Of Suits By Sick Gulf Spill Cleanup Workers. But Not One By A Boat Captain
Maas then pursued his case against BP on his own for nine months, successfully moving it to Tennessee.
“I think most people would be very hesitant on writing their own motions to court, which I was, but I’m dumb enough not to even be embarrassed by spelling things wrong and and not having it set up right,” he went on to say.
In late 2020, Maas hired Tennessee attorney Ken Burger. Initially hesitant, Burger decided to become engaged after seeing spill worker injury litigation.
“The more I looked at it, the madder I got,” he recounted. “My attitude of mind was, I don’t care if I don’t make a dime out of this. “They (BP) are going to answer my questions.”
As with hundreds of similar complaints, BP attempted to dismiss Maas’ by claiming he could not prove the exact level and duration of his exposure to oil and Corexit.
However, Maas had two things going for him.
The court first heard expert testimony from Corexit researcher Dr. Veena Antony, a professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Alabama, who stated that there is no safe dose of the oil dispersion to breath. Maas and his deckhand said that they were “crop dusted” with Corexit and inhaled lungsful.
The second advantage was that the federal court in Tennessee who heard his case was less conservative than those in the Gulf States when it came to establishing a link between harmful chemical exposure and sickness.
AP – VOR News Image
BP Defeated Thousands Of Suits By Sick Gulf Spill Cleanup Workers. But Not One By A Boat Captain
“Mr. Maas does not have to establish he was exposed to a specific dose of Corexit” for his case to proceed, U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. stated in 2021, noting Maas’ doctor indicated the boat captain was exposed regularly for a lengthy period of time.
After the judge ordered mediation, BP agreed.
BP never admitted any fault, and Maas’ attorney carefully frames the outcome: “Unlike cases from New Orleans to Pensacola to Galveston to Tampa… we were able to resolve Captain Maas’ case in a manner agreeable to the parties.”
Since Maas’ case, the lawyer stated that numerous spill workers have begged him to take theirs, but he has refused. “I don’t think any of these cases are winnable,” he told reporters.
And his Corexit expert witness says she is hesitant to testify in any future difficult cleanup lawsuits.
“As a physician, I feel terrible for these people,” he remarked. “But… I am not a lawyer. I wish I was in certain ways; I’d fight for them.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Business groups are urging Justin Trudeau’s government to stop labor unrest at Canada’s main ports, as it did with railways in August, to avoid supply chain disruptions.
Hundreds of dock foremen in British Columbia ports have been on strike for a week. On Sunday, employers at Montreal’s port locked out 1,200 unionized workers after they rejected a contract offer that promised a 20% salary raise over six years.
Businesses report that the work disruptions are harming ports that handle approximately C$1.2 billion ($860 million) of products daily. They want Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to refer the case to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which can send the parties to arbitration to settle the disagreement.
He used that technique over two months ago to halt labor stoppages at Canada’s two main railways. However, the government’s use has sparked resentment among some unions.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has filed a court challenge, claiming that the government’s actions in the railway conflict set a dangerous precedent by breaching workers’ constitutional rights.
Soon after, the pro-union New Democratic Party ripped up a legislative arrangement in which it committed to vote with Trudeau’s Liberals to advance critical legislation.
It’s unclear whether the government currently has enough support to enact a back-to-work law, which would be required to end the port issue.
According to Michel Murray, a Montreal Longshoremen’s Union representative, the port employers “act as bullies,” and refusing to talk indicates that “they clearly want the federal government to intervene.”
“Nearly C$6 billion worth of goods are expected to arrive at the port over the next two weeks,” Michel Leblanc, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, said in a statement. “The urgency is real.”
Goldy Hyder, CEO of the Business Council of Canada, stated that the conflicts “continue to weaken Canada’s economy and tarnish its reputation as a reliable trading partner.”
“Canada’s ports will continue to lose market share if the country’s reputation for labor instability is not corrected soon,” Hyder wrote in a letter to MacKinnon and Transport Minister Anita Anand on November 9.
According to a group of port employers, the Montreal offer would have increased the average dockworker’s pay by more than C$200,000 annually.
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(VOR News) – Amazon has verified that employee data was stolen to the extent that it was compromised as a result of a “security event” that took place at a third-party vendor. The event brought about the compromise of data.
According to a statement that was provided to TechCrunch on Monday, the information that pertains to Amazon employees was revealed as a result of a data breach. This information related to Amazon employees was disclosed.
Amazon spokesman Adam Montgomery issued the statement.
When it comes to Amazon’s or Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems, there have been no security breaches that have taken place, and we have not encountered any security problems. An incident that occurred at one of our property management providers and included security was brought to our attention over the course of the investigation.
This problem had an effect on a number of the company’s customers, including Amazon, and we were informed about it. Other customers were also affected. Montgomery asserts that the only information that was disclosed was that of the work contact information of Amazon workers. As far as Montgomery is concerned, there was no further breach of security.
Among the things that were listed in this category were things like work email addresses, desk phone numbers, and the locations of buildings.
The number of employees who were affected by the security vulnerability has not been acknowledged by Amazon, nor has the total number of employees who were affected been released.
Additionally, it was stated that the third-party vendor, which was not named, does not have access to sensitive data such as Social Security numbers or financial information. This information was described as being kept confidential. The information in question was not made public. The vendor has reportedly fixed the security flaw that was responsible for the data breach that took place, according to reports that were received.
Hackers said they posted Amazon data on Breach Forums. It has been determined that the information in question is accurate as a consequence of this declaration. Additionally, the individual alleges that they have more than 2.8 million lines of data, which they allege was stolen during the mass-exploitation of MOVEit Transfer that took place the previous year.
Using the alias “Nam3L3ss,” the threat actor claims that they have disclosed information that was purportedly taken from twenty-five big corporations, as indicated in a study that was carried out by the cybersecurity company Hudson Rock. The analysis was done by Hudson Rock.
The assumption that the threat actor makes is that “the data that you have seen up to this point is less than .001% of the total data that I possess.”
This is the Amazon assertion that they make.
The public will have access to one thousand releases that have never been seen before in the history of record releases. The journal TechCrunch has attempted to get in touch with the other firms that were identified by the threat actor; however, the magazine has not yet received any additional responses to the inquiries that it has made.
It was the MOVEit breach, which took place in 2023, that was the most catastrophic breach that ever took place. The file-transfer software that was developed by Progress Software was vulnerable to a zero-day vulnerability, which allowed attackers to take advantage of the weakness and cause this breach.
More than one thousand businesses were impacted by these incursions, and it is believed that the notorious Clop ransomware and extortion ring was responsible for them. Through the utilization of ransomware, hacks were successfully carried out.
Not only did the data breach affect the Oregon Department of Transportation, which had 3.5 million pieces of information stolen, but it also affected the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which had four million pieces of information stolen, and Maximus, which is a giant in the United States government services contracting market, which had 11 million pieces of information stolen.
SOURCE: TC
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(VOR News) – The following day, Bitcoin achieved a new record high as a consequence of traders’ wagers on the potential benefits of Donald Trump’s return to the White House for the cryptocurrency.
This was an additional factor contributing to Bitcoin’s recent record-breaking performance.
This resulted in Bitcoin’s first-ever record-breaking high.
The digital currency’s inaugural transaction, valued at eighty thousand dollars, was executed one hundred twenty minutes after twelve o’clock in the afternoon (1200 GMT). This occurred shortly after the timepiece reached twelve.
The conviction that President Trump may reduce laws on digital currencies has increased as a result of his victory in the presidential election that occurred in the United States on Tuesday. This conviction has been bolstered by his election victory. Since the election was won by the Republican nominee, Trump, this mentality has been gradually cultivated.
On Wednesday, the price of bitcoin achieved a new all-time high of $75,000, surpassing the previous all-time high of $73,797.98, which was achieved in March. This item has attained the highest price to date.
It was widely believed that Trump was the politician who embraced Bitcoin during his campaign against Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party candidate. Harris was a candidate for the Democratic Party in the Senate campaign.
Donald Trump employed the term “hoax” to describe cryptocurrencies during his inaugural tenure as president of the United States. However, in the time that has passed since then, he has experienced a substantial change in his viewpoints, which has even resulted in the creation of his own committee platform.
In addition to his pledge to establish the United States of America as the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world,” he has also committed to appointing Elon Musk, a tech entrepreneur and right-wing conspiracy theorist, to the role of overseeing a comprehensive investigation into the government’s wasteful practices.
Both of these commitments are components of his strategy to enhance the prosperity of the United States of America. It is crucial to acknowledge that he has made a commitment to both of these.
The administration of President Trump was responsible for the reduction of corporation taxes, which resulted in an increase in market liquidity and facilitated the investment in high-growth assets, such as cryptocurrencies. Through the administration of President Trump’s predecessor, this was accomplished.
The previous administration benefited from a decrease in the tax rate for Bitcoin companies.
In September, President Trump announced that he, his sons, and other organizations would be creating a digital currency platform known as World Liberty Financial. The development of this platform would also incorporate the participation of other businesses. The network would facilitate the conversion of digital currency into corporeal currency.
Nevertheless, it experienced an unsuccessful sales launch earlier this month, with only a small percentage of the tokens that were placed on the market being purchased by consumers. This incident transpired earlier this month. From this, it is possible to infer that the launch was unsuccessful.
Cryptocurrencies have been the subject of numerous news articles since their inception. The FTX exchange platform is the most notable of the numerous industry stalwarts that have fallen, and these stories have covered a wide variety of subjects, including the immense volatility of their pricing. Numerous topics have been addressed in these narratives.
According to reports that circulated in the days preceding the election, he made history by becoming the first former president to utilize bitcoin to conduct a transaction. Donald Trump achieved historical significance by conducting a transaction using bitcoin. This could be considered a significant accomplishment.
He accomplished this by purchasing hamburgers from a restaurant in New York City, which characterized the transaction as “historic.” He succeeded in achieving these objectives. Because of this opportunity, he capitalized on it.
Bitcoin, a digital currency, is transacted on the market every day of the week, including Sundays.
SOURCE: TET
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