HOUSTON, June 21 (UPI) -- The offshore installation manager on the Deepwater Horizon rig has refused to testify in civil suits over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, court documents say.
Lawyers for Jimmy Wayne Harrell, who was scheduled to give a deposition in July, filed a notice that he is exercising his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, the Houston Chronicle reported. The document became public during a hearing Monday before a federal magistrate.
Eleven men were killed and 17 other people injured April 20, 2010, in an explosion on the drilling platform. Millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf before a leak was capped three months later.
Harrell was the senior Transocean employee on the Deepwater Horizon, which the company had leased to BP. As the employee in charge of drilling, he played a key role in decisions and in transmitting information to and from BP.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against Transocean and BP.
