A vessel captain that performed various cleanup operations from the BP oil spill claims the British petroleum company negligently exposed him to hazardous and cancer-causing compounds.
Josip Piacun filed a lawsuit against BP Exploration & Production Inc. and B.P. America Production Co. on July 27 in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District Louisiana citing gross negligence under the general maritime law.
Piacun was hired April 20, 2010, in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout and resulting oil spill, the complaint states. During his time of employment from June 2010 to December 2010, he claims BP negligently exposed him to dermal and airborne chemical compounds that are generally accepted to be toxic, volatile and carcinogenic. The complaint states that Piacun has "developed psychological, dermal, respiratory and cardiopulmonary complications as a result of the exposure."
Piacun claims that BP failed to utilize reasonably safe dispersing chemicals in its allegedly haphazard attempts to respond to the oil that began April 20, 2010, and actually exacerbated and worsened the pollution of Gulf of Mexico --- needlessly caused injury to cleanup workers and Gulf residents.
Piacun is being represented by Jefferson Parish-based attorneys Joseph S. Piacun, Thomas A. Gennusa II and Reid S. Uzee of Gennusa, Piacun and Ruli.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:15-cv-02963-CJB-JCW