Attorneys general in 16 states and the U.S. government want to put a little distance between themselves and the rest of the plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation against BP PLC over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
They’ve asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans to separate their cases from the hundreds of lawsuits brought on behalf of businesses and individuals. Those cases make up the vast majority of the nearly 300 claims pending in multidistrict litigation in New Orleans against BP, Halliburton Co., Transocean Ltd. and Cameron International Corp.
