Why would they even need to do this if they weren’t cutting corners?
To… cover their own asses? Immoral megacorporation is immoral. It doesn’t matter if they were cutting corners or not: having magic signed paper is some amount of protection over not having magic signed paper. Therefore, get magic signed paper.
Of course, the Magic Paper could be challenged in court, as signing under duress casts a shadow over validity, but of course that will be expensive and take time. Meanwhile, those responsible have the opportunity to make a clean get away and go plunder and ruin something else.
I admit, the first thing I thought when I heard about the blow out was that someone just hit the jack pot. There are billboards all over south Louisiana for lawyers specializing in offshore rig accident damages, and it’s an ongoing battle between them and the drilling contractors. The drilling contractors have people whose main job is to reach the employees after an accident before the lawyers can contact them.
It’s pretty damned sleazy all the way around, really, with the drilling employees as the pawns.
Absolutely disgusting, if true. I would point out, however, that this particular bit of sleaziness appears to be all in Transocean’s court, not BP.
I’d like to to say if I were in that position I’d tell them to cram their papers, but I doubt I could stand up to two days of trauma and no sleep any better than they could. I would hope that those stupid papers get made into paper airplanes and sailed out of court, should TO attempt to use them against their employees.
Wow, that’s…uh, pretty fucked up. I didn’t see any mention of BP in the article (perhaps I missed it?), just Transocean…why is BP in the thread title? They are separate entities with different responsibilities/employees/etc…right?
ETA or what El Kabong said.
I’m sorry. I should have said amoral megacorporation is amoral. Slight, but critical difference.
While BP is not involved ni the scheme that is the subject of the OP, they were in the headlines for offering a $5,000 cash settlement to struggling fisherman to give up the right to sue.
Although they were later stopped from pushing or enforcing the suit waivers, the fact that they set out to do this in the first place indicates an amorality and deviousness on their part, especially given the panic struggling fisherman might feel not knowing what the future might bring in to terms of income and having cash money dangled in front of their faces.
I’m surprised they could even get a bunch of lawyers onto a boat. The bar must be made of tougher souls in Louisiana.
I’m kind of surprised that bunch of oil rig workers, traumatized as they were, caved in, instead of using the lawyers for shark bait. You’d think a few of them might have teamed together and tossed a lawyer or 2 overboard, or at least grabbed their cellphones and called home.
That was my first thought also. I can imagine one of them being like “Dude, a bunch of my friends and co-workers were just killed and injured, you’d better get that fucking paper out of my face before I stuff it down your throat!”
Wouldn’t work: professional courtesy [/obLawyerJoke.]
Yeah, I was hoping someone would take a swing at that meatball.
You’re underestimating the power of sleep deprivation. By the time the papers were put in front of the workers, all they wanted was to get home, and let their loved ones know they were still alive.
This May 9th article from the Houston Chronicle tells more:
The article goes on to say the documents may end up having little legal significance, since they were signed under duress.
Also from the Chronicle, which has pretty good coverage of the whole story: There’s a memorial service today in Jackson, Mississippi, for family & friends of the 11 men killed. It will be held behind closed doors.
That’s a nice way of saying that the documents are not worth a bucket of warm spit. Actually, at least the bucket of spit is not as much of a potential P.R. Nightmare.
What idiot thought this scheme up I wonder?