Transocean's Settlement Offer Another Disappointment
In September, Transocean Deepwater Drilling, Inc., sent a disappointing letter to those of its employees injured in April's horrific destruction of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, and who had not yet returned to work or obtained legal representation. While Transocean claimed to be thinking of its workers and their welfare, it at the same time gave notice that the workers were soon to receive maritime law maintenance and cure benefits, apparently in place of the full salaries that the injured employees continued to receive in the months after the April catastrophe. The disappointment and hypocrisy surrounding that development was widely recognized, as here.
Transocean's letter went further, however, offering a settlement to the injured workers: "a lump sum in an amount equivalent to six months of your gross salary (excluding factors such as market premium and travel pay), in exchange for the execution of a release."
Houston maritime attorney Kurt Arnold, a partner in the law firm of Arnold & Itkin LLP, challenged the timing of Transocean's acts. "All of this is calculated to pressure the families to settle quick and cheap," Arnold said.
Transocean's injured Deepwater Horizon workers deserve treatment significantly better than that reflected in the company's September settlement offer.
Arnold & Itkin LLP attorneys serve clients in Texas and throughout the nation, handling maritime injury and many other types of complex cases.
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