I live on Little Sarasota Bay and have for 20+ years. By early May I did the only thing I could do and that was to build a few websites and point people in the right direction for help. That lead to more and more people asking for BP claims help as time went by. After I had up my 3rd site covering the Disaster in the Gulf and hearing from so many people reaching out, I emailed Erin Brockovich, two
days later the phone rang and it was her, and let me tell you something she is the real deal. A few weeks later I would meet her and her team out in New Orleans, knowing I was going to meet her out there, I tried to get a hold of an old friend Captain John Hilstrand of the Timer Bandit, I thought they could each help the fishermen but was unable to get a hold of John. I would meet Erin in New Orleans along with Justin Bloom an Environmental Attorney who is part of the River Keepers Association and a really smart guy. At this point in time people were getting very sick from the application of the Corexit. I had started a site called SurvivetheSpill.com and it was designed to help people at their witts end, all forms went to Catholic Charities, and Amanda Janis, who did a fine job helping quite a few people. On my second or third day in New Orleans I was out taking pictures and stumbled across the the First New Orleans Oyster Festival, who did I bump into but Johnathan`s brother Andy and the whole crew from Deadliest Catch was in town, filming After the Catch. It was great to catch up with Johnathan and a few of the guys, This was truly an aha moment in my life because I really wanted to get a hold of Johnathan days earlier. They gave me some takes for SurvivetheSpill.com, they were gracious enough to respond to emails from fishermen who were in despair and were kind enough to relate how they got through the Valdez tragedy. During this trip I would find the despair of people heart wrenching as I went out to Visit Grand Isle and talk to fishermen and shrimpers directly. Grand Isle looked like a police state and I guess for all intensive purposes it was..the smell of corexit was thick in the air, guys in black on atv`s everywhere, my original plan had been to stay there a few days but after a boat ride out to the gulf, coughing seamlessly, getting burned by the corexit, I was out of there in 6 hours. I felt physically awful and bewildered how my country could let this happen. The ball was clearly in BP`s court out there, they were in charge, it didn`t feel like I was even in America. As I became more and more involved with this we would develop different relationships with different law firms at different points in this process. There were certain firms that really outdid themselves, and I am happy to say they are doing a fabulous job helping people get financially restored from BP. We often refer to these groups of Attorneys as our Dream Team. Please understand they are all separate firms that specialize in different types of cases. Attorneys have begun to specialize in this process, it is best, to have your case or claim in the hands of an Attorney that has decided to specialize in that area. The cast of characters that surround this project continues to evolve, I truly believe we have connected with the best and the brightest to help the people who were affected by this disaster. I have met a brother in Arms, Jacob of BP-Claim.com and connected with what I feel are the best Attorneys in the country. All this being said I have been involved with extricating people of this disaster via the Internet for over a year now, and the work has really just begun.
