All Against BP as Spill Trial Turns to 'Coverup'

Activists protest in front of the Federal Building on the first day of the trial over the Deep Water Horizon oil rig spill in New Orleans Photograph by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
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The BP oil-spill-litigation cage match starts up again next week in New Orleans. Thought this multibillion-dollar melee had already run its course? Not by a long shot.

The legal fracas concerns liability for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and epic spill. Eleven men died, and millions of barrels of oil sullied the gulf coast. BP has already doled out some $26 billion for cleanup and claims payments, but the British oil giant will owe more. The question now is how much: a few billion dollars, something closer to $17 billion, or—if the most fervent dreams of plaintiffs’ lawyers come true—a figure of even greater magnitude?