BRENT COON DEPOSES LORD JOHN BROWNE

Houston, TX (April 4, 2007) – Attorney Brent Coon, of Brent Coon & Associates, will depose Lord John Browne, the former CEO of British Petroleum (NYSE: BP), on Friday, April 4, beginning at approximately 10:00 AM CST.

Plaintiffs in the Texas City Explosion litigation initially sought to depose Lord Browne in the summer of 2006. In October of 2007, after months of legal wrangling, Mr. Coon, the lead counsel in the ongoing Texas City Explosion litigation, argued the right to depose Lord Browne to the Texas Supreme Court. Now, more than 3 years after the explosion Lord Browne has been compelled to answer questions under oath regarding his knowledge about the explosion.
“For almost two years, we have tried to depose Lord Browne about the executive decisions and cost cuts he personally made that led to the fatal explosion at Texas City. BP’s lawyers consistently resisted,” said Brent Coon. “It truly boggled the mind that a company where Lord Browne was – presumably – no longer even on the payroll continued to try and protect him. Regardless of what his lawyers think, or what his friends in the oil industry think, we firmly believe that Lord Browne, like any other party to such a horrific tragedy, should have to answer for his company’s misdeeds.”

“15 people died at Texas City, and it is finally time for Lord Browne to stop hiding behind executive privilege and account for those deaths. It is our hope that the putting Lord Browne under oath today can finally provide some answers,” Coon concluded.
Key areas of inquiry will include:

• Browne’s role in ordering 25% worldwide refinery cost-cuts directly linked to the explosion and his personal awareness of unsafe plant conditions;
• An explanation of numerous comments made by Lord Browne associated to the explosion and aftermath;
• Browne’s involvement in the numerous post incident internal and external investigations.

Additional information about the event, the press conference and case can be found at www.texascityexplosion.com

Mr. Coon will be in the tower offices of Fulbright and Jaworski in Houston. Lord Browne will answer the questions under oath by a court reporter in London via teleconference.

Lord’s Browne’s storied career at BP came crashing down last year amid perjury admissions associated to a personal relationship with a young male companion.

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. Brent Coon & Associates employs over 60 aggressive litigators, with solid experience in individual and complex multi-party, occupational/environmental, health and personal injury cases. 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.