In a development sparked by Swiss law, the Shareholders of Transocean rejected "a proposal that would have absolved the company's directors and top management from liability for the contract driller's 2010 activities," including the Gulf Coast Deepwater Horizon matter. See Ryan Dezember, "Transocean Holders Vote to Keep Management Liable for Gulf Spill" p. B3, col. 1 (Wall Street Journal, Thursday, May 19, 2011)(no hyperlink has been made available on the Wall Street Journal's website as of the entry of this post).
Although the Shareholders' vote is described as not unprecedented, the last time such a routine absolution proposal came before the Transocean Shareholders, in May, 2011 concerning 2009 operations, it was approved by a margin of 32-to-1. See id.
Clearly, the Shareholders of Transocean are impressed by the potential extent of their management's liability exposure. Further, two Shareholder suits against Transocean have already been filed in Texas as a result of the Gulf Coast Fiasco, it is reported. See id.
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