BP Must Face Gulf Spill Claims From Alabama and Louisiana

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Source: Bloomberg News

BP Plc must face claims under federal maritime law, though not under state law, in suits brought by Louisiana and Alabama over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a judge said.

The states can sue for negligence and products liability under general maritime law and are eligible for punitive damages, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said yesterday. He dismissed claims brought under state environmental laws, including demands for civil penalties, finding they were preempted by federal law governing the Outer Continental Shelf.

“Because the source of this discharge occurred within an exclusive federal jurisdiction, the OCS, the only available law is federal law,” Barbier said in a written decision. “The state-law claims are dismissed.”

The Macondo well blowout and the explosion that followed killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The accident and spill led to hundreds of lawsuits against London-based BP and its partners and contractors, including claims brought by Alabama and Louisiana alleging state law violations.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-15/bp-must-face-gulf-spill-claims-from-alabama-and-louisiana.html

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1. the states should appeal this decision re: state environmental laws, IMO

[DonCoquixote]

2. Too bad Florida

gave away all that right to sue,
in part because democrats stayed at home thinking no one would ever elect Rick Scott.

Remember this 2012.

[Amonester]

3. The states pols want big bucks too... n t