The civil damages deal approved this week was proposed in October last year. A judge ordered a new trial amid allegations of juror misconduct, and Mix ultimately pleaded guilty to a less serious charge and was sentenced to six months of probation. Another rig supervisor, Donald Vidrine, pleaded guilty to the same charge after federal prosecutors abandoned more serious manslaughter charges against the two supervisors.įormer BP executive David Rainey was acquitted of charges he manipulated spill-related calculations, and former BP engineer Kurt Mix was convicted of obstruction of justice for deleting a string of text messages. In February, a jury acquitted BP rig supervisor Robert Kaluza of a misdemeanor pollution charge. The company agreed to pay a record $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties.Ī Department of Justice criminal investigation resulted in charges against four lower-ranking BP employees. Various clean-up responder defendants and the manufacturer of the dispersants used in the Deepwater Horizon response, Nalco, moved to dismiss the claims asserted against them.īarbier ruled BP acted with “gross negligence” in the disaster, and BP pleaded guilty in 2013 to manslaughter for the rig workers’ deaths. The complaint alleged that plaintiffs engaged in a variety of clean-up activities and were exposed to oil, dispersants and other chemicals while doing so as a result of various actions or omissions of, among others, the clean-up responder defendants.įurther, it alleged that the defendants “failed to use reasonably safe dispersant chemicals or other chemicals in their attempts to respond to the oil spill, and thereby exacerbated the pollution of the Gulf of Mexico and injury to plaintiffs,” “ignored worker safety concerns,” and failed to supply workers with appropriate equipment such as respirators. In February, Barbier effectively dismissed over 20,000 claims against private clean-up companies that responded to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Barbier ruled in favor of BP, citing the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) passed in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. However, BP argued federal law required such claims to be limited to economic losses that “resulted from” the spill itself, not from the action of a third party such as the federal government. One, Seahawk Drilling alleged that its business was essentially destroyed, resulting in losses of $174.8 million, as a result of the drilling ban. The claimants argued that BP was liable for billions of dollars. offshore drilling ban imposed after the 2010 spill. Nearly six years to the day since this tragedy began to unfold, it is clear that we have still failed to learn all the lessons of the Deepwater Horizon.”Ī court ruling in March has also meant that BP won’t have to face lawsuits by energy and oil field service companies over losses they blamed on the U.S. history as an ordinary and necessary business expense boggles the mind. The amount will be paid over the course of 16 years.ĭespite protests from both Congress and a broad coalition of environmental groups, the final settlement will allow BP to deduct a majority of the costs as an ordinary business expense.įriends of the Earth Climate and Energy Campaigner Lukas Ross said: “We are saddened to learn that the gross negligence of BP continues to enjoy taxpayer subsidies. as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP has been ordered to pay $5.5 billion to settle civil damages claims made by the U.S.
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