New York, NYMembers of the BP Plc employee savings plan are suing over financial losses resulting from the company's plummeting share price in the wake of the BP oil spill disaster.
Reports from Bloomberg indicate that BP has lost more than half its market value as a direct result of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and resulting environmental catastrophe, which has been playing out in the Gulf of Mexico for nearly two months and shows no signs of being remedied soon.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago, is seeking class action status. The suit reportedly states that the employee savings plan is for full-time, part-time, occasional and temporary BP employees. The plan held $2.45 billion worth of BP American depositary shares, or 29 percent of its $8.27 billion assets, as of the December 31, 2009.
The lawsuit states, "Defendants knew or should have known that investment in BP Plc equity was -- and continues to be -- an imprudent investment of the ESP's assets due to serious mismanagement and improper business practices that resulted in catastrophic incidents of international significance, including, among others, the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico."