MARKET TALK: Shareholders File First Oil Spill Lawsuit Against Anadarko

24th Jun 2010 15:36

[Dow Jones] The legal saga stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is now extending for the first time to one of BP PLC's (BP) partners in the Macondo well: Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC). Lawyers representing some of the company's shareholders filed a lawsuit against the oil company and some of its officers, alleging they made a series of false and misleading statements in relation with its participation in the broken well. Attorneys at law firm Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are asking a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to certify the case as a class action lawsuit. The charges against Anadarko, which owns 25% of the well, includes failure to disclose there was no effective oil spill response plan for the well and that the drilling procedures of BP - the well operator- solely cut costs at the expense of safety. The well has been gushing oil since late April, when Transocean Ltd's (RIG) Deepwater Horizon rig, which was leased by BP, exploded and sank, unleashing the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. Anadarko's shares were trading down 0.48% to $39.67 (Isabel Ordonez, 713-547-9207, [email protected]) (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 24, 2010 10:36 ET (14:36 GMT)