Extent of Prepublication Scrutiny by Legal Counsel Not Known.
The involvement of lawyers in the review, writing and editing process of BP's Report on Fault for the Gulf Oil Well Catastrophe was first reported on Thursday evening, September 9, 2010. See Spencer Swartz, "BP Lawyers Reviewed Report on Accident" (Wall Street Journal Online, Thursday, September 9, 2010).
It is an ordinary thing to have lawyers review a written Report intended for release to the public, before the Report is actually released for public consumption. This is true despite BP's statements seemingly to the contrary. See Ben Casselman and Spencer Swartz, "BP Report Pins Most of Blame on Others" p. A4, col. 1 (Wall Street Journal, Thursday, September 9, 2010): "BP said the investigation, led by one its executives, Mark Bly, was conducted without interference from senior management and didn't take legal liability into account."
The extent of BP's lawyers involvement in reviewing this particular Report is receiving intense scrutiny. As of the time of this post, reporters' attention seems to be focused on whether the lawyers were also writers and editors.
An interesting question which has not yet been asked is, What were the specialties of the lawyers in question? Did their specialties include Insurance Coverage? If so, what types of Insurance Coverage do the reviewing lawyers deal with?
Time will tell, perhaps.
Dennis Wall is Co-Author of the leading book on Insurance Coverage for Catastrophe Claims, "CATClaims: Insurance Coverage for Natural and Man-Made Disasters" (West Publishing Company 2008; 2010 Supplement in process). Mr. Wall will be a featured speaker on several panels which will address the BP Oil Spill Catastrophe. On September 15, 2010, he will be a featured speaker on a panel addressing "BP Oil Spill Damages Claims: The Coverage Predicates" at the September 15, 2010 Seminar of the Insurance Law Committee sponsored by the Orange County Bar Association in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Wall will speak on a panel at the American Conference Institute's Bad Faith Litigation Conference in Orlando, Florida on November 30, 2010 on "Dealing With Catastrophic Disasters: How to Properly Investigate and Handle Overwhelming Claims". The American Conference Institute is offering a discount to readers of this Blog: Download ACI Advises Readers of the Insurance Claims and Issues and Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog are entitled to a discount.
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