Gulf Action Spill Legal Team

The Gulf Action Spill Plaintiffs (GASP) legal team is actively investigating and filing claims for business and individual losses due to the BP Gulf Oil Spill Disaster. GASP attorneys filed one of the first class action lawsuits against BP and related companies.

In order to assist individuals, businesses and law firms with affected clients in obtaining as complete a recovery as possible, we have formed a team of experienced class action and mass tort law firms stretching from Corpus Christie, TX, to Coral Gables, Florida, and have retained legal and expert consultants in the fields of:

• Environmental Science
• Toxicology
• Engineering
• Economics
• Forensic Accounting

Our Gulf Action Spill legal team includes, inter alia:

P. TIM HOWARD, Ph.D., HOWARD & ASSOCIATES, Tallahassee, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts, and Director, Law & Policy Doctorate Program,Northeastern University in Boston, Tim is currently involved in tobacco and Toyota litigation, and filed one of Florida’s first class action lawsuits arising out of BP Gulf Oil Spill. Tim’s national experience ranges from representing Florida as Special Assistant Attorney General against Mobil Oil and winning a $10 billion action for the state of Florida, to originating, filing, and coordinating Florida’s successful $27 billion recovery against Big Tobacco, to actions against soft drink manufacturers with benzene in their products, and individual actions against Big Tobacco in New England and Florida for those sick and dying from cigarette-related diseases. Tim is a testifying expert on class action law, fees and recoveries, and is nationally recognized having appeared on CNN, PBS, FOX, CBS, ABC, etc., and The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and more.

DOUGLAS S. LYONS, LYONS & FARRAR, Tallahassee, Florida -- currently involved in tobacco and Toyota litigation, filed one of first class action lawsuits arising out of BP Gulf Oil Spill. All attorneys in the firm have been rated by Martindale Hubble as AV Preeminent Attorneys for the past 25 years. Marsha and Doug have been selected by Florida Attorneys as leading Florida Lawyers and are both members of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates. Doug has been appointed by numerous courts to act as lead counsel in over 20 certified class actions representing hundreds of thousands of class members nationwide.

MIKE EIDSON, COLSON, HICKS and EIDSON, Coral Gables, Florida,is President and member of the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), formerly ATLA. He has also served as Parliamentarian, Treasurer, Secretary, and chair of the products liability and aviation sections of the American Association for Justice. Mike worked with Ken Feinberg with the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund and helped create and worked with Trial Lawyers Care to provide free legal representation to victims of 9/11. He served as president of the Dade County Trial Lawyers Association and served as Continuing Legal Education Director for the Florida Justice Association where he continues to serve as a member on its Board of Directors.

DANNY BECNEL, Reserve, Louisiana -- Watson v. Shell Oil Company, which concerned a refinery explosion of May 5, 1988, and involved approximately 18,000 claims; case ultimately settled for more than two hundred million dollars; lead Counsel in< i>Deion McGee et al., v. Shell Oil Company et aI.,involving 5,000 people; Clement v. Occidental Chemical Company, a class action involving approximately 10,000 people; appointed to the Plaintiffs' Legal Committee in reference to two separate explosions at the Exxon Refinery in Baton Rouge, LA, in cases involving more than 9,000 people each;appointed lead counsel in the DuPont Chemical Company Explosion, which involves approximately 1,200 people in Reserve, LA.

HILLIARD MUÑOZ GONZALES L.L.P, Corpus Christi, Texas, currently represents over 10,000 claimants in a Federal class action lawsuit against Hurricane Katrina victims who suffered injury in trailers provided by FEMA that contained excessive formaldehyde; represents victims involved in oil field explosions and rig site accidents that cause serious injury, burns, and death as a result of company negligence and inadequate job training.

DON BARRETT, Lexington, Mississippi, former chairman of the toxic torts section of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, founding member of the Charles Clark Inn of Court in Jackson, founding president of the Mississippi Community College Attorneys Association, and was the Mississippi Bar delegate to the 1993 and 1994 Fifth Circuit Judicial Conferences. Don is one of only three plaintiff's attorneys in the U.S. who has tried three tobacco liability cases through jury submission and who negotiated the landmark settlement with Liggett Group announced in March of 1996, as well as one of the lead attorneys in the historic settlement agreement entered into by twenty-two Attorneys General with Liggett Group on March 20, 1997. Don’s tobacco litigation experiences have been chronicled in various publications, including the ABA Journal, The New York Times, The American Lawyer, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and Don has been featured in two books, Cornered: Big Tobacco at the Bar of Justice, by Peter Pringle, and The People vs. Big Tobacco, by Carrick Mollencamp, et al., his litigation experiences have been chronicled in Assuming the Risk, by Michael Orey, and he has been featured on 60 Minutes, Day One, Moneyline, Cochran & Grace, Pro’s & Con’s, Dateline, and BBC’s The Tobacco Wars, which was rebroadcast in the United States by The Learning Channel.

SAMUEL T. (Tom) ADAMS, Panama City, Florida, primary areas of practice include corporation and business law, domestic relations, real property law, insurance law and civil trial practice, including personal injury and seaman's injury. Tom successfully litigated against Ford Motor Company relating to injuries and wrongful deaths incurred in Ford Explorer rollover case.

Consulting Attorneys, inter alia:

TALBOT (“Sandy”) D’ALEMBERTE, President Emeritus, Florida State University, January 1994 to January 2003; former Dean of the FSU College of Law, 1984 to 1989; House of Representatives from 1966 to 1972 serving on the Judiciary Committee; after leaving the Florida Legislature, he chaired the Florida Constitution Revision Commission in 1977-1978 and the Florida Commission on Ethics in 1974-75; past President of the ABA, American Judicature Society and renowned constitutional law scholar. Sandy spearheaded creation of and is very actively involved in the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, which was created by the ABA to assist 21 former Soviet Block countries in creating democracy building programs, democratic institutions and fair and open elections.

RICHARD. A. DAYNARD Professor, President Public Health Advocacy Institute, Chair Tobacco Products Liability Project, Northeastern University School of Law, Massachusetts. Professor Daynard teaches in the areas of public health law, strategic litigation and administrative law. Professor helped develop the concurrent degree program in Law, Policy and Society, and teaches the introductory seminar in the field. He is at the forefront of an international movement to establish the legal responsibility of the tobacco industry for tobacco-induced death, disease and disability, and international leader in combating the obesity epidemic with lectures about legal issues in the control of tobacco and obesity in more than 40 countries and chairing 25 national and international conferences on these subjects. Professor Daynard has been the principal investigator in grants and contracts from the National Cancer Institute, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the American Legacy Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is listed in Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. Professor Daynard has written or co-authored more than 80 articles, and most recently has been honored with Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor Award of the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute.

LEE P. BRECKENRIDGE, associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Northeastern University School of Law, Massachusetts, specializing in environmental and natural resources law. Former attorney with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC; former assistant attorney general with the state of Tennessee and the commonwealth of Massachusetts; former law clerk for Judge Gilbert S. Merritt on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1977-1978; former chief of the Environmental Protection Division for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

ROBERT D. PRITCHARD, Senior Fellow, Northeastern University, College of Professional Studies, Massachusetts. Robert has worked extensively in the areas of economic development and policy and transportation safety.

Our team of experts includes, inter alia:

David Tipton, CPA, Certified Valuation Analyst, Tipton, Marler, Garner & Chastain, Panama City, Florida.

Robert C. James, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, University of Florida.

George F. Grimsley, CPA, Grimsley and Company, CPAs, Tallahassee, Florida, accounting services for large regional businesses and multimillion-dollar coastal real estate developers.

Elton Scott, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Business Administration (semi-retired), Flagler College at Tallahassee, Tallahassee, Florida. August 2005 to present; Associate Professor of Finance, Department of Finance, College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. 1979 to December 2003 (retired).

Robert D. Frierson, Professional Geologist, experienced in the management of environmental assessment and remediation activities at petroleum, hazardous waste, and mixed waste contaminated sites. He coordinates and manages field investigative and remedial activities and prepares associated deliverables. He also provides job cost accounting, including cost analysis and effectiveness.

Chen H. Lin, P.E., Ph.D., Civil Environmental Engineer, With 33 years' experience, Dr. Lin has completed projects throughout the United States, Asia, and South America encompassing soil and groundwater remediation, solid and hazardous waste management, environmental impact assessment, industrial and domestic water and wastewater treatment system design, water resource conservation, and reclaimed water reuse.