A month into the 14 lawsuits filed in response to the Orange County oil spill, District Judge David Carter ordered defendants to inform plaintiffs of any actions taken that could spoil evidence in advance following an ex-parte application from Ontario-headquartered firm McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP,* and co-counsel Larson LLP.
The Nov. 17 order found the multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional investigations into the spill, and the pipeline’s location on the seafloor, make evidence preservation difficult. Any repair, replacement, modification, alteration, update, removal, transportation, disposal relating to the pipeline or the oil platform needs to be communicated a day in advance.
Defendant response
Defendant’s
