SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO HEAR CASE OVER LIABILITY IN 2008 MISSISSIPPI RIVER OIL SPILL

By TONI ELLINGTON

The Supreme Court refused certiorari for an appeal from the Fifth Circuit by American Commercial Lines, LLC of the Fifth Circuit’s decision in a case arising  from a 2008 collision and sinking of an ACL barge in the Mississippi River.

In the case, American Commercial Lines, LLC, et al. v. Laurin Maritime AB, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana  and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals failed to find Laurin Maritime AB liable for the collision between its tanker, the M/V TINTOMARA, and an ACL oil barge.  The district court granted partial summary judgment to the defendants, dismissing ACL’s Oil Pollution  Act of 1990 claims. The collision resulted in an oil spill in the Mississippi River near New Orleans on July 23, 2008.  The incident was the largest pollution event to date on the Mississippi River.

For more information, contact Toni Ellington at 504-599-8500.