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BP Said To Offer Attorney $10 Million To Settle Injury Case HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- An attorney has asked a Texas District Court to sanction BP PLC (BP) for its conduct in a lawsuit over a deadly refinery explosion in 2005. In a motion filed late Friday, plaintiffs' attorney Anthony Buzbee alleged that BP offered to make a $10 million donation to a church on behalf of a second plaintiffs' attorney in the case. The offer was made to lure that attorney into settling his clients' cases prior to a Sept. 18 trial, Buzbee said. BP made the offer to an unnamed plaintiff's attorney in a meeting Wednesday, Buzbee alleged in the motion, filed with the District Court in Galveston, Texas. He said the attorney was representing the two plaintiffs in the case, along with Mr. Buzbee, who serves as the plaintiffs' lead counsel. In his motion, Buzbee called BP's alleged proposal, "reprehensible." The two plaintiffs, Kevin Bolds and Kenneth Grant, were injured in the March 23, 2005, explosion at BP's Texas City, Texas refinery. A BP spokesman did not deny the alleged offer from the company, but said Buzbee's description was inaccurate. He noted that BP is in negotiations with the plaintiffs to settle the lawsuit. "We don't join Mr. Buzbee in the characterization of these claims," said Neil Chapman, a spokesman for BP. "Where it's reasonably possible, we're trying to make settlements where we can address any specific needs the claimants and their lawyers have expressed." According to Buzbee's motion, the lawyer representing Bolds and Grant declined BP's offer. "The purpose of this motion, however, is to prevent such unethical attempts by BP in the future," Buzbee wrote. So far, the Anglo-American oil giant has settled more than 100 claims in conjunction with the accident - the worst petrochemical explosion in a decade. The blast killed 15, and injured 170. Although BP has settled claims with some family members of employees who died in the blast, family members of three victims still have outstanding claims against the company. The company said in June that it was putting aside an additional $500 million in legal reserves for settlements in the Texas City case, bringing the total compensation fund to $1.2 billion. At the end of 2005, the company had disbursed nearly $500 million in settlements, BP said in a U.S. securities filing. BP declined to reveal the total amount it has disbursed for settlements. -By Jessica Resnick-Ault, Dow Jones Newswires
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