LORD BROWN TESTIMONY TO SURFACE IN UPCOMING BP TEXAS CITY EXPLOSION TRIAL

NEW TRIAL GROUP OF 10 WORKERS TO BE LARGEST YET ASSEMBLED

Galveston, Texas (May 15, 2008)

After refusing to testify for almost 3 years, Lord John Browne, former CEO of British Petroleum at the time of the Texas City explosion, was recently forced to give a deposition to attorney Brent Coon of Brent Coon and Associates, by the Texas Supreme Court.
Mr. Coon, who argued before the Supreme Court in October of 2007, was finally allowed to depose Browne for one hour on April 4th 2008. “He fought, wrangled and appealed the courts requests every step of the way” said Mr. Coon, “we wondered what he was hiding…and now we know.” The previously unreleased testimony will be heard as part of the 10 person trial group starting Monday May 19th, 2008. This is the fifth and perhaps final round of court proceedings dealing with the refinery explosion on March 15th, 2005 that killed 15 people and injured hundreds more. This will be the first docket to contain employees of BP.

The lawsuits alleged that on March 23, 2005, BP operated its Texas City, Texas refinery with gross negligence and violated federal, state, industry and even its own safety standards that led to the explosion. The tragedy resulted in extensive state and federal investigations and culminated in numerous criminal pleas with the U.S. Department of Justice.

About Brent Coon & Associates

Brent Coon & Associates was founded in 2001. Today, with 20 offices around the country, it is one of the largest trial law firms in the nation and the epitome of the 21st century law practice. The majority of the firm's cases are referred from attorneys who have confidence in the firm's integrity, expertise and solid work ethic. For more information, visit www.bcoonlaw.com. The firm serves as lead counsel to numerous legal matters, including the BP Texas City Explosion. For his efforts, Brent Coon received the Steven J. Sharp Award (national trial lawyer of the year) from the American Association of Justice, the Clarence Darrow Award, and the USMFW Humanitarian Award and was named one of Texas' Super Lawyers for 2007.