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)