Spill companies hire major Florida firms to fight lawsuits

With lawsuits being filed daily by people and businesses affected by the oil spill, BP and other companies responsible for the underwater geyser have hired some of the state's powerhouse law firms to represent them in cases from Florida.

BP has tapped lawyers from Akerman Senterfitt, Florida's largest law firm, to serve as its defense team, a firm spokesman said today. The law group has offices in Tampa, Miami and other Florida cities.

Cameron International, maker of the failed blowout preventer, has hired Greenberg Traurig, said Tallahassee-based Barry Richard, one of the international firm's lawyers and shareholders. So far, 55 lawsuits against Cameron have been filed in Florida, he said.

"Every day, more come in," Richard said.

Halliburton Energy Services, which pumped cement at the well, has hired Broad and Cassel, according to the Daily Business Review in Miami.

BP spokesman Toby Odone and a spokesman at Broad and Cassel declined to comment.

Some lawyers say Florida will be at the center of much of the litigation because of its miles of beaches and large number of homes, hotels and other businesses along the coast.

A Clearwater couple has already contacted the Bilirakis Law Group, saying the stigma of the spill has caused the value of their waterfront home to plummet.

Athanasios and Evdokia Gionis say they their home, which they have owned since 1976, has suffered a dramatic loss in value as a result of the gross negligence of BP and other companies.

The Gionises' suit is one of six filed by lawyers of the Bilirakis firm, who are asking federal judges to designate the lawsuits as class actions on behalf of homeowners, scuba shops, hotels, restaurants, fishermen and tourism-related retailers.

Spiro Verras, a lawyer involved in the litigation, said more than 200 lawsuits have already been filed in federal courts across the Gulf Coast region.

In Florida, the potential number of plaintiffs is "enormous," Verras said. "Our whole economy is built on the coastal areas," he said.

Lawyers in various cities are lining up clients and filing class-action and single-plaintiff lawsuits, Verras said.

"It depends on who wants to get into the party," Richard said. "It's a little bit crazy."

A multidistrict litigation panel will convene next month in Boise, Idaho, to hear arguments, decide where the federal lawsuits will be consolidated and decide which judge will handle the case, Verras said.