MDL Judge In Deepwater Horizon Multidistrict Litigation Issues Major Ruling Construing The Oil Pollution Act Of 1990 ('OPA')

On August 26, 2011, Judge Carl Barbier of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, issued one of the most significant rulings construing certain provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, in the Deepwater Horizon multidistrict litigation.

As is now common knowledge, the Deepwater Horizon was a mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) which caught fire and exploded on April 20, 2010, resulting in the deaths of 11 workers, the injury of many others, and the release of tens of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, before the well, to which BP Exploration and several other entities had a lease for mineral rights, was finally capped some three months later.

The MDL includes thousands of claims by various commercial fisherman, fish processing and distribution entities, recreational businesses, commercial businesses, plant and dock workers, real property owners, tourism interests, and subsistence plaintiffs. The allegations include claims under OPA and various state laws, including claims for negligence, gross negligence, strict...