May 21, 2013
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A federal appeals court has refused to overturn a ruling that a BP rig supervisor must submit to a medical exam to determine if he is fit to be questioned under oath for civil litigation spawned by the company's Gulf oil spill.
A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that it doesn't have jurisdiction to review a judge's order for BP well site leader Donald Vidrine to be examined by a court-appointed psychiatrist.
Transocean Ltd., which owned the rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and triggered the massive 2010 spill, wants to question Vidrine about his actions on the Deepwater Horizon.
Vidrine and fellow BP rig supervisor Robert Kaluza were indicted in November on manslaughter charges stemming from the workers' deaths.
