[StBernard] Councilman Craig Tafaro's Response to Murphy Oil Class Certification

[Westley Annis]

Due to increasing questions relative to the new restrictions in St. Bernard
because of the litigation concerning the Murphy Oil Spill class action
certification, I would like to inform all residents of the following.
 
Parish government, while taking no official stance related to the Murphy Oil
litigation, believes it is important to know some basic facts:
 
St. Bernard Parish has not solicited any law firm to file suit or seek class
action against Murphy Oil on our behalf- if a law firm claims that it is
acting on the parishes behalf, this is completely false as far as parish
government goes.
 
St. Bernard Parish Government has not requested trailers to be discontinued
in the original or expanded oil impacted area.  We have strongly opposed
this disruption and emphatically demand that indiviudals be allowed to make
their own decision about the placement of a trailer.  Any law firm or judge
or federal agency which seeks to take this away from our residents is not
doing so on parish government's behalf and certainly not in the best
interest of the individual resident by taking away their decision making
authority.
 
The communication between parish government and Murphy Oil in terms of
continued clean up has not stopped because of either party's lack of
interest in continuing to clean up- but now the issue of this litigation
obstacle has created a huge barrier for all of us.
 
St. Bernard Parish Government has not requested any utility company to
discontinue restoring service to any area in St. Bernard.
 
As one man's opinion, I believe that the disruption of the restoration and
recovery of our parish due to the agenda of a class action suit that
involves hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who consciously decided not
to be a part of it is unconscienable.
 
Residents who chose to opt out of the class action will have to sign form
papers to do so- keep posting and we will let you know how to do so.  If
residents choose to file an individual suit they must opt out of the class
before going forward.  If a resident wishes not to be a part of any
litigation, once they opt out, they are no longer involved.  Previous
settlement issues will have to be discussed with the attorney of your choice
just as any other legal questions.  We, as a government, offer no direction
as to which course of action you should choose, but we do wish for you to be
aware of the current situation.
 
Questions about the Murphy Oil sampling or testing should be directed to
Murphy Oil directly.
 
All specific questions about the class action status and related issues
should be directed to the Sidney Torres Law Firm.  I suggest that you
inquire of the firm to provide interim financial assistance to all those
residents who have been held up for temporary housing or will potentially
have their temporary housing delayed because of the litigation brought by
his firm.  While any law firm has the right to act as it chooses, to do so
to the detriment of individual's planning and recovery just does not seem
part of that whole life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness thing.
 
Let me be clear about the intentions of my comments and information:  each
individual should choose to do whatever it is that they would like to do in
response to the Murphy Oil Spill.  What concerns me most about this whole
issue is the residents being allowed to decide their course of recovery
within the recovery plan of St. Bernard Parish, not any law firm that an
individual did not choose.

Councilman Craig Tafaro