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Transocean try to limit Macondo spill liability called "unconscionable"
(5/31/2010 - OGI: Houston) Transocean, citing the same 1851 Limitation of Liability Law that the owners of the Titanic sought to use to shield themselves from claims by families of those who died and survivors of the sinking of the "unsinkable" luxury liner in 1912, petitioned a US court in Houston earlier this month to limit its liability in the blowout and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilling rig and the subsequent fatalities, injuries, and massive oil spill to less than US$27 million.
Today, it was revealed that the administration of US President Barack Obama characterized the action "simply unconscionable" in a letter to Transocean obtained by Reuters through the Freedom of Information Act in which the US Justice Department demanded the company exclude from its liability limitation request all claims by both federal and state governments.
Tony West, assistant attorney general for civil acts at the Justice Department, wrote the letter to Transocean. In it, he said the company's attempt to use the Titanic shield of liability could leave thousands of people damaged by the actions of Transocean without a legal remedy, and pointed out that the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, passed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, excludes oil spills from the purview of the 1851 Limitation of Liability Law.
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The sinking of the Titanic. |
Transocean refilled its petition to the Houston court the day after it received the Justice Department letter. It said on Friday it did not intend to block claims under the 1990 law and asked the court to modify its motion to clarify that. Nevertheless, a Transocean official told an investigating Congressional committee that the company has only accepted responsibility for contamination from the drilling rig.
The Justice Department has instructed Transocean as well as BP and Halliburton to preserve all data related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in advance of a probable investigation. Expectations are that the Department intends to launch a criminal investigation within the next few weeks.
Click below for earlier reports:
Sunken Deepwater Horizon semi's BOP said defective
Another strike out: BP's top kill operation fails to halt oil flow
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