Three holdouts among hundreds of plaintiffs who sued BP PLC for injuries or deaths in the 2005 Texas City explosion are set for trial this morning as the British energy company is under fire for management lapses in Alaska and Texas.

While hundreds of other plaintiffs who lost relatives or were injured in the March 2005 blast have settled, the daughter of James and Linda Rowe and two contract employees injured have demanded a public hearing.

"Do we want to go to trial? You're damn right we want to go to trial," said Arturo Gonzalez, attorney for Eva Rowe. "You know why? Because the public needs to know how BP was taking care of business."

The blast killed 15 people, including the Rowes, and injured 170 others.

A second set of cases is scheduled for trial Nov. 7 while a third set is scheduled for Feb. 26.