First, I want to make a comment bump:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Bayou Corne - Comment Bump, Thursday, April 9 2015...":
Calvin Fayard is on so many PSC/Class Counsels such as the Galveston Oil Spill, BP, this one here and others that one must wonder how many hours are in his day, 24 would not be enough. The pattern of poor notice, exaggerated settlement amounts vs. reality, and complete lack of transparency seems to be widespread. I expect that there will be plenty of objections filed against the BP Class Counsel fees. Too many good attorneys are watching and very pissed about the game being played. The PSC game of hide the ball and collect $600,000,000 as long as you fight to PRESERVE a horrible Class Settlement that looks as though BP drafted it w/o input from any Plaintiff's attorneys!
All salient points but the real issue, even above the hidden billing methods, is what level of collusion is going on with the Good Ole' Boys and their oil and gas industry defendants. I've already shown evidence of this in the Wisner story but I think the Bayou Corne case could be even worse.
All salient points but the real issue, even above the hidden billing methods, is what level of collusion is going on with the Good Ole' Boys and their oil and gas industry defendants. I've already shown evidence of this in the Wisner story but I think the Bayou Corne case could be even worse.
Here's why...
On Monday I sent the following questions to A. Shelby Easterly, III, the court Special Master in the Bayou Corne settlement:
- What is your current and past relationship with Connie M. Easterly, an employee of Kean Miller who publicly lists employment (connie.easterly@keanmiller.com) with Kean Miller, the law firm representing Texas Brine in the Bayou Corne settlement?
- Were you in contact with Ms. Connie M. Easterly during the litigation period for Bayou Corne and at any point did you discuss the case with her?
- Did you disclose to the court any relationship, present our past, that you had with Ms. Connie M. Easterly before you were chosen as Special Master for the Bayou Corne case?
- Did Calvin Fayard disclose to you, and/or, were you aware that James E. Kuhn, who served as council for Texas Brine was a former law partner of Mr. Fayard's?
Predictably, I received no response.
I believe Connie M. Easterly is the former, possibly current, wife of Shelby Easterly. I don't know if this officially constitutes a conflict of interest but I would think it should have been disclosed to the court before he applied for the Special Master position.
Predictably, I received no response.
I believe Connie M. Easterly is the former, possibly current, wife of Shelby Easterly. I don't know if this officially constitutes a conflict of interest but I would think it should have been disclosed to the court before he applied for the Special Master position.
But then again, in this state a judge could get caught in the sack with a juror and it would be overlooked. Now a judge, a prosecuting attorney and a juror....that ménage à trois may raise eyebrows...maybe.
Also note that Calvin Fayard was formerly a law partner of one of Texas Brine's current attorneys, James E. "Jimmy" Kuhn. Kuhn also served as a judge for Louisiana's First Circuit Court of Appeals.
According to a 2014 article from The Hayride (which I will begrudgingly link to) , Kuhn actually wrote the opinion from the First Circuit which absolved Fayard of campaign finance violations revolving around his daughter, Caroline's, run for Lt. Governor back in 2010.
Clearly Kuhn should have recused himself in that case but...hey...it's Looziana. We're so bad, Harvard couldn't even measure us on their corruption scale.
You see....in our state it's very clear that some people are not only above the law....they actually own it.
You see....in our state it's very clear that some people are not only above the law....they actually own it.
Sidebar: Hey! I need all of you to do me a favor....to help me conduct an experiment, if you will. Go to Nola.com...oh let's say.....here. And type in the following comment:
Where does Fred Heebe come in to play on all this?
Just cut and paste that sentence into a comment....or make up your own comment but make sure you have "Fred Heebe" in there.
Get back to me on the results....as in did the comment actually make it through. You can post the results in this post's comment thread. Gracias amigos/amigas.
Where does Fred Heebe come in to play on all this?
Just cut and paste that sentence into a comment....or make up your own comment but make sure you have "Fred Heebe" in there.
Get back to me on the results....as in did the comment actually make it through. You can post the results in this post's comment thread. Gracias amigos/amigas.
Any of these things appear to be more of a conflict then myself and an attorney representing claimants each owning a minority interest in a preexisting and unrelated company.
ReplyDeleteTrue Dar but you don't own any judges Sutton
ReplyDeleteDat...True Dat
ReplyDeleteFred Heebe is the Voldemort of the NOLA.com comments
ReplyDeleteA lawyers how to guide on screwing your own people. Nice
ReplyDeleteGot a comment posted by not naming "he who must not be named."
ReplyDeleteHoly K-rap,, my NOLA.com comment with the FH reference didn't last 30 seconds.
ReplyDeleteFH...:)...you can say Fred Heebe here...I won't delete it
ReplyDeleteWould it be a conflict of interest if 1 of Shelby Easterly's children is a partner in a law firm that represents a large corporate plaintiff also suing Texas Brine for all the money that plaintiff can get?
ReplyDelete>>>Would it be a conflict of interest if 1 of Shelby Easterly's children is a partner in a law firm that represents a large corporate plaintiff also suing Texas Brine for all the money that plaintiff can get?<<<
ReplyDeleteI suppose that it depends upon what the meaning of the words 'conflict of interest' is.
Hey, I have an idea....let's ask Basile Uddo if it's a conflict....or Blaine LeCesne!
ReplyDeleteNo...I"m just fucking with you. I'd rather watch Mili Vanilli's entire music video archive than have to read another legal opinion by those dudes....it would be much easier to exercise credulity.
A settlement designed to compensate hundreds of thousands falls short.
ReplyDelete86,334 Denied claimants.
59,028 Unique claimants paid.
DWH Status updates from April 1, 2015 thru April 16, 2015 the claim center numbers.
Payments to 1046 new unique claimants paid break down as follows.
18 Seafood
12 IEL
0 Festival Vendors
423 BEL
12 Start ups
1 Failed Business
88 Coastal Claims
18 Wetland
8 Real Property sales
499 Subsistence
1 VoO
1 Vessel damage
Total new Denials 316
47 Eligible with no payment
19 Exclusion Denials
53 Prior GCCF Release Denials
78 Causation Denials
119 Other Denials
This is a first after mailing out the deadline notice the incomplete denials that reached a high of 49,283 on April 10 have been reduced.
-519 Incomplete Denials cured, re-filed or re-tracked due to Court Vendors found error.
And then we have the appeals BP has appealed some new offers even as they run those ads telling the world they are committed to the Gulf.
505 Appeals pending unresolved.
68 New appeals filed.
211 Under Discretionary Court Review the next Black Hole.
IN-HALE
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/06/bp-settlement-architects-hope-to-win-over-skeptics/
ReplyDeleteNEW ORLEANS – The deal is all but done. Now it's time to sell it.
Days after they announced a multibillion-dollar settlement, BP PLC and a committee of plaintiffs’ attorneys is working out details of an agreement to resolve more than 100,000 claims spawned by the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
They must persuade a federal judge that the settlement is fair and equitable, but the sales job doesn't end there because the deal already has its critics.
Herman expressed confidence that the settlement's architects can convince skeptics that a court-supervised claims process is a better vehicle for resolving claims than the GCCF has been.
"It recognizes more claims than were recognized under the GCCF," he said. "It gives the claimants more flexibility in establishing their losses and offers more security as to future risks."
Is anyone still buying it!
Plaintiffs' Steering Committee And BP Finalize Settlement
ReplyDeletehttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/plaintiffs-steering-committee-and-bp-finalize-settlement-147920225.html
NEW ORLEANS, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC) leading the litigation surrounding the 2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill today announced that it has finalized its settlement with BP.
"The people and businesses of the Gulf Coast stand to reap great benefits from these settlements," said Plaintiffs' Co-Liaison Counsel, James P. Roy and Stephen J. Herman. "We have held BP fully accountable for the Deepwater Horizon tragedy less than two years after the spill. Through extensive arms-length, good faith negotiations, hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents and businesses will be made whole."
The methodologies and protocols implemented by the Court Supervised Oil Spill Settlement Program are agreed to by the proposed Class and BP. The frameworks for compensation are transparent and provide proposed Class members with great flexibility in determining the amount of their damages. The frameworks are designed to allow proposed Class members to calculate their claims in a manner that provides the best result for them or their business. Further, the Claims Administrator has a duty to work with proposed Class members to ensure that they are receiving the entirety of what they are owed.
"The medical settlement will provide hundreds of thousands with the care they so desperately need, and through the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program, bolster the region's healthcare infrastructure for years to come," said Roy and Herman.
The things puppets say:
“Hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents and businesses will be made whole."
"The medical settlement will provide hundreds of thousands with the care they so desperately need”