Thousands of fishermen and business owners in a multi-billion-dollar legal battle with BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have won the right to sue for punitive damages, in a fresh defeat for the oil major.
More than 100,000 individuals, companies and authorities have filed cases claiming they suffered economic loss as a result of the leak last year. A judge, Carl Barbier, is considering 500 cases, many of them class actions, against BP and its main co-defendants, including Transocean, the rig owner.
In a key ruling, Judge Barbier has now said that the plaintiffs are allowed to make their cases under maritime law for punitive damages. BP and the other companies had argued that a different law prevented complainants pursuing them in this way.
Punitive damages go beyond pure compensation for economic loss – they are penalties intended to punish an offender and deter repeat conduct. However, extreme negligence would have to be proven, which is strongly denied by BP and the other defendants.
An enormous marine heatwave off the US west coast is ringing alarm bells among ocean and...
Authorities in Orange county, California have ordered the evacuation of 40,000 people over concerns about a...
More than 17,000 people were under evacuation orders in southern California on Tuesday as a wildfire...
