More Fun at the BP Trial

Its not like I’m reading the BP Trial transcripts religiously, but, as I noted two weeks ago, the web set that Judge Barbier had the e-discovery company and the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee set up to make all the court documents public: 

http://www.mdl2179trialdocs.com/

is amazing in its transparency - all daily transcripts are available by the evening of each day of the trial, as are all the exhibits, deposition transcripts, and even videos. After just six weeks of the trial - likely just the half-way point of this phase - the transcripts alone are 8500 pages long. And, by my count, there are over 7000 other documents that have been entered into evidence, or at least posted on the web site.

The trial must be beyond tedious, so I guess its no surprise that the attorneys and staff occasionally try to inject a little levity into the proceedings, like March’s birthday celebration for a court staff member.

Similarly, Thursday morning consisted of the direct examination of one of BP’s expert witness, Arthur Zatarain, an electrical engineer. Right off the bat, the BP lawyer takes care of the pressing question that everyone in the court room was wondering:

Ha - connected ancestrally, yes, financially, no! And the sign he jokingly referred to is the big mural of a Zatarain’s ad across Poydras street from the court:

Also, I was perplexed as to why there was no afternoon testimony on Thursday but, luckily, the end of the morning’s transcript answers that question:

Yes, they weren’t holding proceedings in the afternoon so everyone could go to French Quarter Fest!

Incidentally, Mr. Zatarain’s expert report, Trial Exhibit 40,009 (PDF), is one of 417 total Trial Exhibits introduced so far.