From Denny: I knew something wrong was going on about the BP oil rig survivors that we had yet to hear. It just wasn't the usual media coverage about such a huge environmental disaster of this scale. What's the first thing you see on TV but the bright lights of news cameras and microphones shoved into the faces of the survivors? Yet nothing happened for hours and hours after the accident. Nor did we hear from the hospitals or the relatives of these survivors.
Why was that? Because, it turns out, Transocean took it upon themselves to spirit away the survivors under an ominous company paid security guard - not local police - away from hospital treatment, psychiatrists for PTSD treatment, away from family and away from the media. They held the survivors for 15 hours and interrogated them to break their wills while they were in a fragile emotional and mental state. Talk about scumbags of the lowest order.
Lawyers and investigators working for Transocean forced the survivors to sign away their rights to later lawsuits for injury compensation or company responsibility. I'm sure Transocean thinks they accomplished quite a corporate coup here but I say "Hell, No!"
Why? Well, for one thing, if Transocean took any of these survivors to other states that will trigger investigations from the FBI, especially now that the survivors claim they were tricked and taken against their will. They thought they were being taken to the hospital for treatment - not interrogation by company lawyers.
What the attorneys did was keep the survivors out off shore on the water, in boats and on another rig for an additional 15 hours or more immediately after the explosion. The explosion happened at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 April, yet the attorneys did not bring the survivors to shore until 3 a.m. Thursday, 22 April.
From one of the lawyers representing some of the survivors, Houston attorney Kurt Arnold, "They were zipped into private buses, there was security there, there was no press, no lawyers allowed, nothing, no family members. They drove them to this hotel and they escorted them into the back of this hotel, once again under escort."
Transocean purposely wasted many more hours to follow before allowing the survivors to phone loved ones to let them know they were safe.
Well, guess what else, you scumbag Transocean lawyers? If these survivors were held off shore in Louisiana waters within the international mile limit, and these survivors were Louisiana residents, then by Louisiana law it is not possible to sign away their rights, under duress or not. Not unless that law has changed recently. Even if the attorneys took the survivors beyond the international mile limit it does not matter for the the men who were Louisiana residents. It does not matter where they were at the time of the kidnapping. Louisiana law states they cannot sign away their rights no matter what.
For those who were not Louisiana residents, signing under duress is also not recognized by American law. So, Attorney General Holder, when do you plan to throw these Transocean attorneys in jail? They should be prosecuted to the full limit of the law. Taking American citizens hostage and forcing them into an interrogation situation and then coercing them to sign away their rights is as un-American as you can get. At some point citizens expect their government to stand up for their rights.
*** To read the full story from National Public Radio (NPR) go here:
Rig Survivors Felt Coerced To Sign Waivers (NPR)
*** ALSO over at Dennys Global Politics:
USA Offshore New Oil Drilling Halted, New USA Terrorist Screening, 3-Way Tie in Brit Election - News Headlines 6 May 2010
Supreme Court Pick Hunt, Dems Whimp Out on Finanacial Fund 4 Reform, How You Get on No-Fly List, Obama Tough on Airlines - News Headlines 5 May 2010
Pakistan Trained Bomber, Obamas Workaholic Ways, Catholics Polled About Sex Abuse - News Headlines 4 May 2010
BP Oil Spill Coverage - News Headlines 3 May 2010
Image from NASA of BP oil spill 29 April 2010
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