Because of his failure to provide an expert opinion, and prove his claims in general, a Deepwater Horizon oil spill relief worker’s case fell short as a judge granted summary judgment for defendant BP Exploration & Production, Inc. on April 29.
U.S. District Judge Martin C. Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana sided with BP in Tony D. Baptiste’s claims that he suffered chronic illnesses after being exposed to toxic chemicals while helping with the spill response from June 16, 2010 to the following September. He worked out of Fourchon Beach.
Baptiste had failed to respond to BP’s motion to dismiss.
“The defendants submit that summary relief in their favor is warranted because Mr. Baptiste has failed to present competent expert evidence to prove legal causation,” wrote Judge Feldman. “The court agrees. There is no indication that Mr. Baptiste has retained an expert to offer testimony at trial related to his medical diagnoses or causation.”
The judge added that Baptiste failed to even suggest or allude to a plan of retaining an expert testimony to help back his case.
The judge determined that Baptiste's "Examination Report from Industrial Medicine Specialists" was insufficient.
“Notably absent from the Examination Report is any opinion that the diagnostic codes and corresponding subjective complaints were caused by exposure to any substances during the oil spill response work,” wrote Judge Feldman. “Standing alone, the diagnostic report cannot defeat summary judgment.”