BP Keeps up Fight against Personal Injury Lawyers’ Fraudulent Claims in #2 Ranked ‘Judicial Hellhole’

BP has filed a lawsuit against San Antonio-based tort kingpin Mikal Watts, accusing him of fraudulently ginning up more than 40,000 “phantom” claims on one of the compensation funds BP established to mitigate damages from the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

BP alleges that Watts and his firm, Watts Guerra LLP, created class members through methods bordering on identity theft. The fraudulent client list reportedly included a BP employee — not once, but twice! The alleged “brazen fraud” occurred in the Eastern District of Louisiana under federal District Judge Carl Barbier, who comes in for harsh criticism in the latest Judicial Hellholes report.  ATRA continues to follow this developing story and will provide regular updates on plaintiffs’ lawyers alleged defrauding of our civil justice system.