American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2020 - 70

ConventionSection: Louisiana Oil & Gas Association

LOGA Keeps Pursuing
Tort Reform Bills
By Dan Holder
BATON ROUGE, LA.-Legislation to
knock Louisiana out of its top-five ranking
as a "judicial hellhole" is a high priority
for the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association as
it prepares for the 2020 statehouse session.
LOGA President Gifford Briggs says
tort reform will be a key part of the
agenda for the association's joint meeting
with the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil
and Gas Association, to be held March
4-6, at the Golden Nugget Hotel and
Casino in Lake Charles, La.
"There absolutely is a demand for tort
reform legislation. Legislators have been
calling pretty consistently, demanding
tort reform and asking what bills the association wants to see," Briggs says. "The
two big issues that continue to drive investment out of the state are the coastal
lawsuits and legacy lawsuits. A lot of
ideas are circulating about the best approach to take. We need to make sure we
protect the environment, but these jackpot

judgments don't make any sense. It incentivizes litigation as opposed to enforcing regulations."
LOGA Chairman Arthur Price says
the state's oil and gas industry remains
optimistic regarding tort reform. He points
out 90% of the political candidates endorsed by LOGPAC, the association's
political action committee, won their legislative races.
"About a third of the Louisiana legislature
turned over in the last elections, and so we
are quite hopeful that we have elected some
business-minded individuals who see just
how crucial businesses is to the success of
the state and the people who live here," assures Price, president of Badger Oil Corp.
in Lafayette, La.
Freshmen will make up almost 50%
of the 2020 legislature, Briggs estimates,
adding that the association's action in
the months before election day will ease
the education process for those new
lawmakers.
"LOGA was heavily involved in the

LOGA Annual Meeting - Lake Charles, La.
Wednesday, March 4
4 p.m. Annual Meeting Registration, Grand
Ballroom Foyer, The Golden Nugget
Hotel and Casino
5 p.m. Cocktail Reception

Thursday, March 5
7 a.m. Registration
8 a.m. Keynote Breakfast
"Presidential Election and the Impact on
Louisiana's Oil and Gas Industry
9 a.m. Exxon, "Economic Incentives: Business and Energy Outlook"
9:45 a.m. Industry Advocacy Panel
Energy in Depth, American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel & Petrochemical
Manufacturers, Encana
10:45 a.m. Liquefied Natural Gas Panel
11:30 a.m. "Coastal Lawsuits: Status Update
and Economic Impact"
Noon: Keynote Lunch
J.P. Morgan, "Financial Outlook on the
Gulf of Mexico
1:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
1:30 p.m. ITEP Panel
"Social Media and Engagement for Industry," Wesley Donahue, PUSH Digital
70 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

2 p.m. Carbon Capture and Storage: Outlook
Cyber Security, FBI
2:30 p.m.Carbon Capture & Storage Panel:
Jan Sherman; David Dismukes
Legislation Panel One: Freshmen: Danny
McCormick; Beau Beaullieu; Heather
Cloud
3 p.m. Environmental Protection Agency,
David Grey, Deputy EPA Administrator
Legislation Panel Two: Leadership: Sharon
Hewitt; Jimmy Harris; Clay Schexnayder
3:30 p.m.Louisiana Oil Field Restoration
Association, John Adams, Office of Conservation
Legislation Panel Three: Tort Reform: Kirk
Talbot; Bob Hensgens; Zee Zeringue
4 p.m. Department of Environmental Quality
Tax Committee, Daron Fredrickson, Merit
Advisors
7 p.m. Dinner

Friday, March 6
8 a.m. Breakfast
Tyler Grey, President and General Counsel,
Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association; Gifford Briggs, President,
Louisiana Oil & Gas Association

election process, and made endorsements
across the state," he says. "We have had
the opportunity to get to know a large
number of legislators, because we had a
very high success rate with our endorsements. As they learn the legislative process,
it is not just educating them about oil
and gas issues, it is going to be talking to
them about the legislative process. Legislators were sent to Baton Rouge with a
message of bringing tort reform to the
state. It should be an exciting time."
Judicial Abuse
The American Tort Reform Association
(ATRA) listed Louisiana as the fourthworst local or state jurisdiction for abusing
the civil justice system in its 2019 rankings,
after ranking the state as the fifth-worst
in 2018. According to the group, its
ranking is determined by how judges in
civil cases systematically apply laws and
court procedures in unfair and unbalanced
ways, generally to the disadvantage of
defendants. It attributes Louisiana's placement to former plaintiffs' attorney and
current Governor John Bel Edwards' aggressive, pro-litigation agenda, a plaintiff-friendly legislature and the state's acceptance of lawyer advertisements.
"Lawsuit abuse continues to drain the
Bayou State's economy," ATRA says.
"The impact of this hidden 'tort tax' on
the Louisiana economy ranks among the
top five states in the nation, with litigation
costs equaling almost 3% of the state's
gross domestic product. The total current
impact of excessive tort costs on the
Louisiana economy amounts to estimated
losses of $1.1 billion in annual direct
costs and $1.5 billion in output (gross
product) annually."
Price says LOGA is committed to
working with the governor.
"If you drill down, you will find that
we have more in common with the governor than things we disagree on," he offers. "He loves the state of Louisiana,
and he loves the people who live here. It
is going to be our job to educate the governor on things that we believe will benefit
the state. We are ready to work with the
governor, not against him. Obviously,

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