BP Exploration and Production Inc. has crushed an ambitious $256 billion lawsuit brought by a purported whistleblower and an environmental group.
In 10-page ruling that pummeled the plaintiffs, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston granted summary judgment to BP on claims that it lied to the U.S. Department of Interior about the safety of its Atlantis oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. A former BP contractor, Kenneth Abbott, teamed with Food & Water Watch Inc. to bring the False Claims Act case.
