St. Joe Co. (St. Joe Paper) reportedly has sued Halliburton in Delaware State Court for damages caused by Halliburton in connection with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Catastrophe. See Robbie Whelan, "Property Firm That Lost Value Sues Halliburton" p. A4, col. 1 (Wall Street Journal, Thursday, August 5, 2010).
Although the linked newspaper report never uses the term, "consequential damages," clearly that is what St. Joe is seeking from Halliburton. "St. Joe, which owns 577,000 acres of land in Florida mostly within 15 miles of the Gulf and is the biggest landholder in the Florida Panhandle, said the April disaster resulted in huge losses for the company when hundreds of tourists canceled vacation plans to stay at its resorts." Id.
The lead attorney for the Plaintiff St. Joe Co. is quoted in the article as pointing to Damages to St. Joe from a "depressed ... market cap," lost sales, "'and there is certainly an interruption in our business.'" Id. [Emphasis added.]
Insurance Carriers for Halliburton beware, and Carriers for BP and Transocean Ltd. beware as the article reflects that St. Joe is retaining its options to sue them too. Further, any Insurance Company that issued Policies to St. Joe itself which provide Business Interruption Coverage should be ready for Claims as well.
Dennis Wall is Co-Author of the leading book on Insurance Coverage for Catastrophe Claims, "CATClaims: Insurance Coverage for Natural and Man-Made Disasters" (West Publishing Company 2008; 2010 Supplement in process). Mr. Wall will be a featured speaker on a panel addressing "BP Oil Spill Damages Claims: The Coverage Predicates" at the September 15, 2010 Seminar of the Insurance Law Committee sponsored by the Orange County Bar Association in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Wall will also speak on a panel at the American Conference Institute's Bad Faith Litigation Conference in Orlando, Florida on November 30, 2010 on "Dealing With Catastrophic Disasters: How to Properly Investigate and Handle Overwhelming Claims".
I have asked the attorneys representing St. Joe in the reported lawsuit to kindly forward a copy of their client's complaint after my research on the Delaware Courts website was unable to locate a copy there. Please Read The Disclaimer.
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