According to WWL TV in an interview done by David Hammer on the 8th year of the British Petroleum oil spill, Lead class plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Herman said his team did not intend for the settlement they did with British Petroleum to lump the “cancer and other conditions that don’t show up for years after the exposure” with “any conditions “diagnosed” after April 16, 2012, regardless of when the condition actually manifested, or appeared”. But somehow, that is how they negotiated the settlement so “BP has not agreed to pay a single one of those claims in mediation.”
Therefore,”people who got sick right away while cleaning up the oil during 2010 and 2011, but didn’t get an official doctor’s diagnosis until mid-2012 or later, were relegated to fighting separate cases, first in mediation with BP and then in court.” And the people who are getting cancer and dying now would have had an opportunity to fight the battle but were never properly notified of symptoms to look for, a protocol to follow, and the medical community was never notified so as victims go to the emergency rooms, doctors do unnecessary testing over weeks and months then shrug their shoulders and scratch their heads.
As Kindra Arnesen explains in the documentary “Disappearing Victims” to be premiered in Lafitte on Sept 6, she had a very unsatisfactory experience with Herman & Herman. Based on the settlement negotiated by Herman & Herman, all cases who got a diagnosis after April 2012 would have to file and individual case in Back End Litigation (BELO). So Herman & Herman held her family’s medical records for 8 years, but then recently told her they were not going to pursue any BELO cases. This was then confirmed by me, Sheree Kerner Stuart after I called Soren Gisleson, a partner at Herman & Herman, when I inquired about possibly using them for representation in the BELO. I was told that Herman & Herman, like the rest of the legal industry in this area, wants to move on as they have gotten BP fatigue. He also said that any lawyer would have to hire experts in toxicology and such so it would be hard to find representation for a BELO lawsuit. Although he said he would volunteer an hour of his time to catch me up on speed and then canceled the subsequent appointment later, I felt he was suggesting that I should forget about pursuing legal action against BP for my husband’s wrongful death.
I can see why Herman & Herman doesn’t want to represent anyone given their poor performance on the 1st settlement, but to go as far as stating that other lawyers probably don’t want to bother with this either is yet another blunder totally giving me misdirection.