NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Texas lawyer has resigned from the team of plaintiffs' attorneys who brokered a multibillion-dollar settlement with BP PLC and are facing the company at trial over the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier's order Wednesday did not say why Mikal Watts resigned from the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee.

Watts was in court only for the trial's first day. He did not immediately respond to calls from The Associated Press.

The San Antonio Express-News reported in February that Secret Service agents had searched Watts' two law offices earlier that month.

The Secret Service in San Antonio referred the AP's request for comment to its Washington headquarters, which did not immediately respond.

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