HOUSTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- British energy company BP paid "only lip service" to safety issues during operations leading up to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a lawsuit claims.
Investment groups that bought BP shares on the London Stock Exchange filed a lawsuit in a Texas court under a state fraud law. They say BP made misleading claims about its commitment to safety.
"BP paid only lip service to ... (safety) reforms, lacked any tools for dealing with oil disasters such as deep-water spills and continued to operate by sacrificing safety for savings," the suit was quoted by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph as stating. "Indeed, BP's reform failures led directly to the April 2010 disaster."
The Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and sank in 2010, killing 11 workers and leading to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The investors bought shares in BP before the spill or immediately after. They said BP offered misleading statements about the size of the spill and its ability to respond to the incident.
No comment was issued by BP.
