Seaman Fails in Move to Deconsolidate His Lawsuit from Deepwater MDL

NEW ORLEANS - U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier has denied a motion by a ship captain alleging injuries from cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico to deconsolidate his personal injury claim from the Deepwater Horizon MDL. Whittinghill v. Abdon Callais Offshore, L.L.C., No. 2:10-cv-01984 [In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, MDL No. 2179] (E.D. La.).

Judge Barbier said in a Dec. 17 order that Clay Whittinghill's lawsuit against a ship owner "is sufficiently related to the MDL" to continue in the multi-district litigation.

Whittinghill argued …