My son's grieving family deserves more from BP

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/16/jones.son.died.oil.rig/?hpt=C2

By Keith D. Jones, Special to CNN
June 17, 2010 7:22 a.m. EDT


Gordon Jones, who died in the BP rig blowout, with his wife Michelle and son Stafford. Another son was born after his death.


Editor's note: Keith Jones has been a practicing trial lawyer for 32 years, and is admitted to practice in the Middle, Western and Eastern Federal District Courts in Louisiana, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is a lifetime member of the Louisiana Association for Justice, and spent several years on the Board of Directors of O'Brien House, a halfway house for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. He is the father of three (one now deceased) and grandfather of seven.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana (CNN) -- My son, Gordon, died aboard the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010.

That statement, standing on its own, might say everything about my life these days. But in truth it says little. Although I am consumed with grief over the loss of Gordon, because I am a lawyer, I am needed elsewhere.

Gordon's older brother Chris and I are directing all our energies to try to make right an outdated law that would deprive my daughter-in-law, Michelle, and her two boys, my grandsons, of "more nearly fair compensation" for the loss of their husband and father.

I make careful use of the term "more nearly fair compensation" because no amount of money could ever compensate any of us for Gordon's loss. Our loss, and the loss of everyone who ever knew Gordon, is incalculable in mere dollars. But our system provides that money damages must be paid by wrongdoers when they cause the death of another. Judges and juries do their best to arrive at the "most nearly fair" amount to try to compensate loved ones for their losses.

In a system that is imperfect, the Death on the High Seas Act stands alone in the draconian way it limits the recovery of damages for wrongful deaths on the high seas. It is a law passed in 1920, almost a century ago, and it was intended to provide for widows and others who lost breadwinners to wrongful acts at sea.

But the law provides only for the recovery of "pecuniary" damages, known popularly as "out-of-pocket expenses." Michelle and her sons, one of whom was born a few weeks after Gordon was killed, are entitled to recover only the loss of the income Gordon would have earned, minus any income taxes, and minus whatever amounts it is determined he would consume himself. Once that figure is established, an economist would be employed to estimate the present day value of those future losses. As the law stands, that final number is all that BP has to pay Michelle and her sons.

FULL story AND videos at link.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Keith Jones' son Gordon died on BP oil rig leaving behind wife, two sons
* Jones trying to change law that deprives Gordon's family of fair compensation, he says
* Law passed in 1920 only pays for lost wages if death caused from malfeasance
* Jones: Law must change, despite big oil, shipping and cruise lines' opposition

[Omaha Steve]

1. Kick

[laylah]

2. kick

[chillspike]

3. And Joe Barton is apologizing to BP for this?

11 people killed and he's apologizing to BP. Give me a break.