The man who beat BP: Thousands tried after the oil spill, but only 1 has succeeded [Video]

John Maas is a rabble-rouser to his core.

He once sued the mayor and police department of Ocean Springs, Miss., alleging he was falsely arrested for taking the mayor’s campaign sign. He accused the local animal shelter there of stealing exotic pets.

When BP hired his charter boat in 2010 to help clean up the its 87-day gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, Maas used a hidden video camera embedded in his sunglasses to record himself complaining about oil damage to his boat and claiming he’d been sprayed with toxic chemicals.

Some of his efforts to fight those in power proved quixotic. But his claims against BP have been a head-scratching, precedent-defying success.

Thousands of coastal residents and oil spill cleanup workers filed lawsuits seeking medical damages caused by exposure to BP’s oil and cleaning chemicals. Maas is the only one to …