Case 1:10-cv-00331-KD-M Document 44 Filed 09/27/10 Page 1 of 5

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
SOUTHERN DIVISION

STATE OF ALABAMA; et al., )

)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. ) CASE NO. 1:10-cv-00331-KD-M
)
BP PLC; et al., )
)
Defendant. )

MOTION FOR STAY OF PROCEEDINGS PENDING TRANSFER BY THE

JUDICIAL PANEL ON MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION

Defendants BP Products North America Inc. and BP America Inc. (the “BP

Defendants”) move the Court to stay all further proceedings in this action pending

the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s (“JPML”) issuance of a Conditional

Transfer Order (“CTO”) in In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon in the

Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, MDL No. 2179 and subsequent transfer of this

case to the Eastern District of Louisiana. 1 As grounds for this motion, the BP

Defendants state:

1. On August 10, 2010, the JPML issued a Transfer Order consolidating

77 related actions for coordination of all pretrial proceedings before Judge Carl

1
BPXP specifically reserves, and does not waive, any and all applicable defenses to the claims
brought in this action including all defenses available under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure.
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Barbier in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

See Transfer Order, attached as Ex. A.

2. In response to the initial Transfer Order, the Transferee Court issued a

PreTrial Order No. 1, also on August 10, 2010, extending all responsive pleading

deadlines in or staying all cases subject to the Transfer Order pending a pretrial

conference in the consolidated proceeding. See Pre-Trial Order No. 1 at ¶ 6,

attached as Ex. B.

3. In the Transfer Order, the MDL Panel also indicated that it will soon

issue CTOs that will likely transfer and centralize the remaining potential "tag

along" actions for all pretrial proceedings in the Transferee Court. See Transfer

Order at p. 1, n.1, p. 3. The instant case is one such "tag along" action. See Notice

of Related Actions (July 7, 2010) attached as Ex. C. In the likely event that this

action is conditionally transferred to the U.S. Eastern District of Louisiana, it

would automatically become subject to the Transferee Court's Order staying the

proceeding pending the pretrial conference in the consolidated proceeding. See

Pre-Trial Order No. 1 at ¶¶ 2, 3 ("This Order . . .will also apply to any 'tag-along

actions' later filed in, removed to, or transferred to this Court . . . Any 'tag-along

actions' later filed in, removed to or transferred to this Court . . . will automatically

be consolidated with this action[.]").

2
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4. Given that this case likely will soon be transferred to and

consolidated in the Transferee Court, and thus be subject to the Transferee Court's

orders and stay, the Court should stay this case pending a determination by the

MDL Panel as to whether this case will be included in the cases subject to a

forthcoming CTO. Unless the Court grants an immediate stay, the parties and the

Court may very well waste time, efforts and resources briefing issues that will

likely need to be re-briefed in the Transferee Court's consolidated proceedings. 2

Moreover, allowing this case to proceed when it is likely to be transferred pursuant

to a CTO could frustrate the Transferee Court's purposes for implementing the stay

set forth in its Pre-Trial Order No. 1. To the extent this case is not included in a

CTO, which is very unlikely, the Court would be able to lift the stay if and when

appropriate.

5. Although the Court previously denied the BP Defendants request for a

stay, this Court has since granted stay orders in substantially similar cases pending

transfer to the Eastern District of Louisiana. See Stay Orders attached as Ex. D.

WHEREFORE, the BP Defendants respectfully request that the Court enter

an order staying all further proceedings pending the JPML’s issuance of a CTO

and subsequent transfer of this case to the Eastern District of Louisiana.

2
The current deadline for the BP Defendants to respond to the Complaint in this case is October
1, 2010.

3
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s/ William H. Brooks
John M. Johnson (JOHNJ7318)
William H. Brooks (BROOW3330)
Marchello D. Gray (GRAYM6384)
LIGHTFOOT, FRANKLIN & WHITE,
L.L.C.
400 North 20th Street
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
Tel: (205) 581-0700
Fax: (205) 581-0799
JJohnson@lightfootlaw.com
WBrooks@lightfootlaw.com
MGray@lightfootlaw.com

Attorneys for Defendants

BP Products North America Inc. and
BP America Inc.

OF COUNSEL:

Richard C. Godfrey, P.C.

John T. Hickey, Jr., P.C.
J. Andrew Langan, P.C.
KIRKLAND & ELLIS, LLP
300 North Lasalle Street
Chicago, IL 60654
Tel.: (312) 862-2000
Fax: (312) 862-2200

4
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on this 27th day of September, 2010, I electronically

filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system which
will send notification of such filing to all counsel of record.

s/ William H. Brooks
Of Counsel