Following my blog post, Deepwater Horizon - The Civil Trial Phase, BP's General Counsel Rupert Bondy has chosen to give a 30-minute telephone interview to reporters from The Wall Street Journal ($), the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Financial Times ($). Quoting from Mark Schleifstein in the Times-Picayune, we see Mr. Bondy echoing my "the dog that did not bark" theme with this: In related criminal settlements during the past two weeks, both BP and Transocean approved fact statements outlining that scenario, which would seem to place BP at risk of being found grossly negligent. Barbier has not yet ruled on a BP motion requesting that the information contained in the criminal settlements not be admissible in the civil trial. The criminal settlements were approved by different federal judges, and neither included an admission of gross negligence. As part of its plea agreement with federal officials, Transocean also settled the civil Clean Water Act allegations, agreeing to pay $1...(Read Full Post)