Latest BP Oil Spill Ruling

Court Decisions
Written By The Current Loyola Maritime Law Journal

Latest BP Oil Spill Ruling

In re: Oil Spill, 2:10-md-02179-CJB-SS Doc. 13393 (E.D. La. Sept 15, 2014)

The latest ruling by Judge Barbier in the BP oil spill case was released on Sept. 15, 2014.  The Plaintiffs' Steering Committee filed a motion regarding causation under the Oil Pollution Act, namely whether any damages caused at least in part by the moratoria on offshore drilling can be recovered under OPA 90 33 U.S.C. Sec. 2702(b)(2)(E) which provides:

(E) Profits and earning capacity. Damages equal to the loss of profits or impairment of earning capacity due to the injury, destruction, or loss of real property, personal property, or natural resources, which shall be recoverable by any claimant.

 The Court had reserved ruling on this issue in a previous order and decided not to rule on it again during the pleadings stage. "The PSC’s current motion asks the Court to do what it previously said it would not—decide the moratoria issue at the pleading stage."

The Current Loyola Maritime Law Journal

The Current is the blog of the Loyola New Orleans Maritime Law Journal, where we post updates to keep our readers up to date about new decisions in maritime law. We also post news about the Journal and its' members.

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