225 lawsuits filed

BP faces more than 225 lawsuits in 11 states as litigation increases almost two months after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded.

As well as claims in five states along the Gulf shore, coastal businesses and property owners in Georgia and South Carolina have sued for damages from the drifting oil, which has yet to round the tip of Florida and enter the Atlantic.

Investors have sued BP's board for allegedly causing more than US$50 billion ($72 billion) in shareholder losses by failing to implement safety policies that would have prevented the spill. In a class-action lawsuit in Florida, the company is accused of "a pattern" of criminal acts including fraud.

Almost all the lawsuits also name rig owner Transocean, and Cameron International and Halliburton Energy Services, which provided the rig's blowout prevention equipment and cementing services, respectively.

- BLOOMBERG