The 40-page complaint was filed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in the US District Court in Panama City, on 20 April, which marked the third anniversary of the tragedy that killed 11 people.
Florida’s move follows immediately after Mississippi filed a suit over BP on 19 April, joining Alabama and Louisiana, which is part of a federal trial in New Orleans against BP and its contractors, reported The Associated Press.
In the filing, Bondi said that BP didn’t replace the batteries, which are used in a blowout preventer, powered by a series of 9-volt battery packs that were supposed to activate automatically.
Bondi was quoted by the publication as saying, "BP knew or should have known that the manufacturer recommended replacement of the batteries in the battery packs at least once per year."
In the filing, the Attorney General has also accused Halliburton of installing faulty cement barriers and said that BP installed a defective valve on the same blowout preventer, which divers were not able to turn it on even manually.
The spill polluted nearly 1,100 miles of beaches and marsh along the Gulf coast, and forced a large number of summer tourists who swim and fish, to stay away from the waters.
