BP

A lawsuit has been filed against BP on behalf of private investors claiming senior managers breached their duty to shareholders by allowing equipment at the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska to deteriorate. Senior executives allegedly failed to carry out essential repairs before America's largest oil field had to be partially shut down. The closure caused significant disruption to U.S. oil supplies and caused BP shares to fall. The suit was filed in the Manhattan Federal Court for the Southern District of New York and could be the first of a number of copycat lawsuits filed on behalf of investors in other U.S. states.