Shareholder Class Action Filed Against BP, plc by the Law Firm of Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP

RADNOR, Pa., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was issued today by the law firm of Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP:

Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on behalf of all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired American Depository Shares ("ADS") of BP, plc ("BP" or the "Company") between June 30, 2005 and June 1, 2010, inclusive (the "Class Period") (NYSE: BP).

If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP (Darren J. Check, Esq. or David M. Promisloff, Esq.) toll free at 1-888-299-7706 or 1-610-667-7706, or via e-mail at [email protected].

The Complaint charges BP and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. BP is one of the world's largest energy companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products.  Among other things, the Company engages deepwater drilling for hydrocarbons around the globe including in the Gulf of Mexico (the "Gulf").

More specifically, the Complaint alleges that the Company failed to disclose and misrepresented the following material adverse facts which were known to defendants or recklessly disregarded by them:  (1) that BP had recklessly inefficient and wholly inadequate safety procedures; (2) BP's conducted its operations in the Gulf without any legitimate oil spill response plan; (3) that BP was wholly incapable of adequately responding to deepwater events in the Gulf; (4) that BP understated the risks of investing in BP while overstating its ability to extract oil from the Gulf; (5) that the Company lacked adequate internal and safety controls; and (6) that, as a result of the foregoing, the Company's financial statements, public statements and presentations were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

Since at least June 2005 the Company has touted the Gulf as one of its "largest area of growth in the US."  BP's statements about the Gulf, however, completely failed to disclose that its operations were being conducted in a highly reckless manner as it lacked any legitimate plan to respond to an oil spill from its drilling activities in the region.  Exacerbating the probability that BP's inadequate spill response would actually be relied upon to respond to a sizable spill BP has for years maintained a corporate culture where adherence to safety protocols and environmental laws were ignored in favor of profits.  

On night of April 20, 2010, the risks concealed by BP's inadequate spill response plan and its false assurances about its organizational changes to improve its culture began to materialize when, at the Company's Macondo prospect site about 50 miles off of the Louisiana coast in the Gulf, an eruption of oil or natural gas occurred leading to an intense fire on the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible oil rig.  Eleven lives were lost in the disaster.

The fire on the Deepwater Horizon consumed the rig and eventually caused it to sink.  As the Deepwater Horizon sank, it pulled a pipe connecting the rig to the well (the "riser") with it.  The riser subsequently tore away from the well, and oil began leaking into the Gulf. Rather than respond to the disaster with a definitive plan to contain the spill, BP began a trial and error approach to containing the oil by employing various tactics which were seemingly developed as the spill was raging.  The cost to BP's investors' from the defendants' deceptive statements will run into the billions of dollars.  

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of class members and is represented by the law firm of Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check which prosecutes class actions in both state and federal courts throughout the country.  Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of institutional and individual investors from the United States and around the world.

For more information about Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, or for additional information about participating in this action, please visit www.btkmc.com.

If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than July 20, 2010, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose.  A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.  In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class.  Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.  Any member of the purported class may move the court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.  

SOURCE Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP