Loren Steffy looks at the documents that lay out BP’s “spill and run” legal strategy, in which it’s arguing that shareholders can only sue the company in England and that Tony Hayward cannot face legal action here because he’s not a U.S. citizen. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)  More »

In response to investors’ lawsuit over the Gulf oil spill, BP claims it shouldn’t be sued here because it’s based in England and therefore governed by English law. Or, as Loren Steffy writes, “It would prefer to be sued someplace it finds more convenient, thank you.” (Photo: Diliff)  More »

Dynegy has delayed its shareholder vote, scheduled for today, on a $605 million takeover offer from New York private equity firm Blackstone Group. The voting will resume next Tuesday. In a statement, the company’s board said that shareholders should …  More »

Crisis resolution funds seem to be on the rise, Loren Steffy writes. This summer, the government got BP to set up a $20 billion liability fund to cover the cost of the Gulf oil disaster. Now, state attorneys general are hoping to get the big banks do something similar to repay victims of improper foreclosures. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)  More »

CEO Bruce Williamson takes an unusual message to his shareholders today hoping to get investors to support a $605 million buyout, Loren Steffy writes. It goes something like this: Our prospects are dismal, our business is hitting the wall and our stock is only likely to fall from here.  More »

Blackstone Group today raised its offer to $5 a share in response to shareholders who believe the company could be worth $6 a share. Loren Steffy wonders if the difference is really that big a deal.  More »

When I first heard the comment from Bob Graham, the co-chairman of the presidential spill commission, my reaction was that he was stating the obvious. In testimony yesterday, Graham said of the Deepwater Horizon accident:U.S. Coast Guard The proble…  More »

Only in Hollywood movies are big corporations so greed-addled, so blindly callous that they would directly choose dollars over workers’ lives, Loren Steffy writes. In the real world, that trade-off is more subtle.  More »

Loren Steffy notes that the former BP chief’s defiance of critics is fully in character: “Most of his tenure as CEO was rough. He inherited a deeply troubled company, with operating and safety lapses on multiple fronts that he was never able to get under control.” (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)  More »

As one former manager explains to Loren Steffy, no one ever tells BP workers to cut corners, but that winds up being the result because the emphasis from top executives is always on the bottom line. (AP Photo)  More »

Last summer I was talking to an attorney who represents businesses harmed by the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He also had represented victims in the explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery in 2005. We began talking about the U.S. Chemical Safet…  More »

The Chemical Safety Board’s handling of the Texas City investigation was a model of how industrial accidents should be examined, Loren Steffy writes. The Interior Department needs to stop stonewalling and let the CSB do the same in the Gulf spill probe.  More »