...heard by courts rather than a kangaroo court commission which would likely rule for the oil companies. The plaintiffs would still have to prove causation, i.e., that fracking caused the earthquakes. The plaintiffs would also have to prove which oil company caused the specific earthquake that caused their damages.
And of course you're wrong about mesothelioma. The lawyers are not running out of clients. Mesothelioma has a long latency period. Often the period between exposure and diagnosis is 35-40 years. Black men who worked in shipyards during WWll because they weren't allowed to serve in the military came down with asbestos-related disease in large numbers. They were in the holds of ships under construction. At they end of the work day, they came out looking like white guys because they were covered in asbestos. Men in their 80's are still being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Their wives who washed their clothing also have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Construction workers in the '50s and '60s also were exposed to asbestos as well as mechanics who performed brake jobs and HVAC service workers. Mesothelioma is a relatively rare condition - less than 1 in 100,000 people have it. The reason lawyers advertise so much for mesothelioma cases is that it's like winning the Powerball. It's a guaranteed winning case; they don't have to prove causation because 99.999999999% of mesothelioma cases are caused by exposure to asbestos. All the attorneys have to do is find out which asbestos manufacturer made the asbestos to which their client was exposed. That can be tricky if the exposure happened over 50 years ago but that's why lawyers get the big bucks. And it's pronounced MEZO-thelioma, not MEEZO-thelioma. Never hire an attorney if his ad pronounces the name of the disease wrong. Never hire an attorney who advertises, period.No one knows for sure if fracking causes earthquakes-but a growing body of scientific evidence says that the injection of wastewater into disposal wells is what is causing the unprecedented reoccurring earthquakes in Texas and Oklahoma. Clueless frackers sometimes inject wastewater directly into known faults which greatly increases the likelihood of seismic activity. Of course conventional drillers to this too but frackers use more water and sand.
Tuesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court said persons injured by earthquakes could sue the frackers for damages and prove, if they can, that fracking activities caused the quake. The oil industry had contended that a state agency should resolve these claims.
This ruling is devastating for the industry. Few, if any frackers, carry quake liability insurance and most are too clueless to believe they even need such protection. Nor do they make enough money in this low margin business to pay judgments. A class action is soon to launch and the liability insurers – who must pay claims to homeowners – may even sue the frackers.
Soon you will see television commercials by those Shepards of the Lord, aka the lawyers, soliciting sign ups. They were running out of mesothelioma clients anyway. Here is how they will do it –sue all well operators in the quake area and then settle with the wildcatters and other small guys to fund the lawsuit against the deep pocket companies. Doesn’t really matter whether fracking actually caused the quake – they essentially have to settle.
And that cheap oil that we’ve all been enjoying may not be so cheap any longer as the frackers -already clobbered by low oil prices - realize that the environmental costs associated with their operations is a big additional cost of doing business for which they have not planned. Not good for my sand business either. Let’s hope no idiot lawyer tries to blame the quakes on the innocent sand companies
......IMHO this will be next to impossible. Im sure this case is heading to the SCOTUS and I do not see them ruling against the frackers.
Tuesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court said persons injured by earthquakes could sue the frackers for damages and prove, if they can, that fracking activities caused the quake. The oil industry had contended that a state agency should resolve these claims.
This ruling is devastating for the industry. Few, if any frackers, carry quake liability insurance and most are too clueless to believe they even need such protection. Nor do they make enough money in this low margin business to pay judgments. A class action is soon to launch and the liability insurers – who must pay claims to homeowners – may even sue the frackers.
Soon you will see television commercials by those Shepards of the Lord, aka the lawyers, soliciting sign ups. They were running out of mesothelioma clients anyway. Here is how they will do it –sue all well operators in the quake area and then settle with the wildcatters and other small guys to fund the lawsuit against the deep pocket companies. Doesn’t really matter whether fracking actually caused the quake – they essentially have to settle.
And that cheap oil that we’ve all been enjoying may not be so cheap any longer as the frackers -already clobbered by low oil prices - realize that the environmental costs associated with their operations is a big additional cost of doing business for which they have not planned. Not good for my sand business either. Let’s hope no idiot lawyer tries to blame the quakes on the innocent sand companies.
I don't see Supreme Court review.
As to proving causation, all you need is an expert to say "more likely than not" and that is enough to reach the jury.
All water, waste water from fracking or otherwise can only be injected back into the ground under the strict control of the State Regulatory Agency, in Oklahoma it's the Corporation Commission, in Texas it's the Rail Road Commission and so on. Those very regulatory agencies themselves may find themselves culpable if it can be proven that water injected back into the ground is responsible for these quakes. That would be my defense if I were ever sued for "quake damage" I have to fill out endless forms and pay out the ass for permits, tests etc for every injection well I own, I my activities cause any damage, my finger is going to be pointed directly at the RailRoad commission, and as long as I can prove that I followed their instructions to the letter, it won't be me who is proved the clueless one.
and Mari I know a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, but almost ALL drillers frack their wells, when you talk about frackers, you are talking about the entire industry. Now if you are talking about shale producers, whose fracks are a hundred times larger than what an operator like me performs, THAT is a different story.
I do believe from reading many of your posts that BPS is right, I think you are more of a "creative writer" than an actual lawyer, I have never seen any real lawyer make so many factual error in making a case, unless of course you are not making mistakes at all, but simply playing fast and loose with the truth. So which is it, are you just not very good at researching your topics, or do you simply have no regard for the truth? I would ask you point blank if you are simply a liar, but that didn't seem very polite. lol
so I doubt they are going to start ruling against fracking and earthquakes. Holy shit, is there even any science on that?? lol.
I've been doing work with these agencies on these issues for 20+ years. If you ever get the certified letter about fracking, drop me a PM. I love getting paid for a good regulatory battle, but I'll take an easy one pro bono just to say I set the precedent.
...heard by courts rather than a kangaroo court commission which would likely rule for the oil companies. The plaintiffs would still have to prove causation, i.e., that fracking caused the earthquakes. The plaintiffs would also have to prove which oil company caused the specific earthquake that caused their damages.
And of course you're wrong about mesothelioma. The lawyers are not running out of clients. Mesothelioma has a long latency period. Often the period between exposure and diagnosis is 35-40 years.
Black men who worked in shipyards during WWll because they weren't allowed to serve in the military came down with asbestos-related disease in large numbers. They were in the holds of ships under construction. At they end of the work day, they came out looking like white guys because they were covered in asbestos. Men in their 80's are still being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Their wives who washed their clothing also have been diagnosed with mesothelioma.
Construction workers in the '50s and '60s also were exposed to asbestos as well as mechanics who performed brake jobs and HVAC service workers.
Mesothelioma is a relatively rare condition - less than 1 in 100,000 people have it. The reason lawyers advertise so much for mesothelioma cases is that it's like winning the Powerball. It's a guaranteed winning case; they don't have to prove causation because 99.999999999% of mesothelioma cases are caused by exposure to asbestos. All the attorneys have to do is find out which asbestos manufacturer made the asbestos to which their client was exposed. That can be tricky if the exposure happened over 50 years ago but that's why lawyers get the big bucks.
And it's pronounced MEZO-thelioma, not MEEZO-thelioma. Never hire an attorney if his ad pronounces the name of the disease wrong. Never hire an attorney who advertises, period.
“The plaintiffs would also have to prove which oil company caused the specific earthquake that caused their damages.”
That may, or may not, be true. If true, that would be a huge problem for the plaintiff. But there are burden shifting theories applicable to entire industries where, if applied here, you would sue all frackers in the area and they would have to prove their conduct did not cause the quake or else face joint liability. I've seen this applied in blasting cap cases where plaintiff cannot identify who made the defective caps which were blown up. Might be applicable here.
But these lawsuits will still be filed for the settlement value. The last thing the plaintiffs attys want is for the case to go to trial unless they can get at least their costs back in settlement from the minor players