UPDATE ON COURT FILINGS AND FIFTH CIRCUIT RULING IN DEEPWATER HORIZON LITIGATION

By TONI ELLINGTON

A panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a motion for rehearing on whether BP PLC and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation can be held liable for violations of the Clean Water Act for the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill in 2010.  BP and Anadarko have also filed motions seeking an en banc rehearing, which are still pending in the Fifth Circuit.  However, on the request for rehearing by the panel, the Fifth Circuit found no factual or legal errors, and thus no basis for reconsideration.  The opinion, issued on November 5, 2014, is available at www.Ca5.uscourts.gov, In Re: Deepwater Horizon, No. 12-30883.

This ruling arose from the federal government’s filing of a civil enforcement action under Section 311 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §1321(b)(7)(A), for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.  This Section mandates fines on owners or operators of any vessel “from which oil or a hazardous substance is discharged.”  The Fifth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling on this issue by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.  See In Re:  Deepwater Horizon, 753 F.3d 570, 573 (5th Cir. 2014).  The court found there was no dispute of material fact on the issue of whether oil was discharged.

In other legal filings related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP filed pleadings last week accusing the State of Alabama of attempting to cover up how it spent $93 million in grants from BP following the spill.  The money was paid to the State of Alabama by BP Exploration and Production.  An environmental group, The Gulf Restoration Network, has also filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia Circuit, against the Department of the Interior and other governmental agencies for allowing Alabama to build a beachfront convention center in Gulf Shores, Alabama from oil spill recovery money.  The group claims the money should be used for restoring wetlands and repairing the ecostructure of the Gulf of Mexico.  See Gulf Restoration Network v. Sally Jewell, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Interior, et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-01773, filed on October 23, 2014.

Also, BP has filed a motion asking the Fifth Circuit to overturn a prior ruling of the district court and allow it to obtain discovery of pending and unresolved oil spill claims.  U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled that the settlement agreement in the case prohibits BP and class counsel from seeing confidential claim and claimant specific data.

For more information, or for assistance with your oil spill claims, call (504) 599-8500.