BP Target of Shareholder Class Action

RADNOR, Pa. -- A class action lawsuit was filed here by the law firm of Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check LLP, against BP PLC, alleging the company failed to present details to its shareholders surrounding its operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on behalf of all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares of BP between June 30, 2005 and June 1, 2010.

The lawsuit charges BP and some of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It claims the company failed to disclose, recklessly disregarded and misrepresented facts known to defendants, including:

-- the company allegedly had recklessly inefficient and wholly inadequate safety procedures;
-- BP supposedly conducted its operations in the Gulf without any legitimate oil spill response plan;
-- BP allegedly was wholly incapable of adequately responding to deepwater events in the Gulf;
-- BP reportedly understated the risks of investing in BP while overstating its ability to extract oil from the Gulf;
-- the company supposedly lacked adequate internal and safety controls; and,
-- as a result of the foregoing, the company's financial statements, public statements and presentations were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

BP's statements about the Gulf failed to disclose that its operations were being conducted in a highly reckless manner, as it lacked any legitimate plan to respond to an oil spill from its drilling activities in the region, stated the lawsuit.

The suit claims the "trial and error" approach to plugging the spill in the Gulf, along with the lack of a definitive oil spill response plan, will cost BP's investors' billions of dollars.

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