From the New Orleans Times Picayune we have this commentary from columnist James Gill regarding feeding frenzy of the plaintiff's bar in the pending Deepwater Horizon litigation.

Their concern for the victims became apparent a year ago, when they took out newspaper ads advising that a deadline was approaching for claims against one of BP's many co-defendants, rig owner Transocean. All those who hadn't done so should preserve their rights by joining the lawsuit immediately.

That included those in line for compensation from Ken Feinberg, head of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which has $20 billion of BP's money to distribute outside the court system. Keep your options open; you have nothing to lose by filling in this form and joining our litigation, the trial lawyers declared.

As Feinberg's clients now discover, they had quite a lot to lose. All they were preserving was their right to help make the trial lawyers rich. This is a deal that takes the old class-action racket to new levels. These suckers will have to pay for legal representation they do not need and could not benefit from.

When they receive compensation from Feinberg, they are required to waive any right to sue for damages. Yet they will still have to pay the plaintiffs' steering committee and pals.

Tort reform anyone?