BP Oil Spill: An Ugly Case of Negligence

As the days go by, oil continues to spew from BP's off shore drilling site. Since the tragic oil spill began on April 20th, an estimated 19,000 barrels of oil have polluted the waters of the Gulf region each and every day. The oil spill has already had a great environmental impact, and will likely result in up to 100 billion dollars in damages. So who's covering the costs for such immense damages, BP...right? Well, not exactly. Although it's logical to think that if you make a mess, you are then responsible for cleaning it up, such logic and common sense has failed to be applied in this tragedy. Instead, the issue of liability has become highly political and entirely unfair.

Following the Exonn Valdez oil spill, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. A major element of the bill states that an oil company can only be liable for up to 75 million dollars in damages. In other words, the law puts a cap on the damages that major oil companies are responsible for. It doesn't sound too fair, does it? The Oil Pollution Act has been actively utilized in the BP catastrophe. As BP has been trying to protect itself under the law, Democrats have been fighting to drastically increase a monetary cap on liability or to eliminate such a cap altogether. However, such efforts have been met with Republican resistance as those on the right have seemingly shown more interest in protecting their buddies over at the major oil companies than the American tax payer. Why should tax payers be on the hook for BP's mistakes and outright negligence? After all, we are not the ones liable, BP is!

In this case, BP should be held accountable for their liability and negligence. We would expect to hold them to the same standard as we would for anybody who is negligent or reckless. Shall I go out on a limb to say that they should be held to a higher standard? Then again, if I do, I might get my head handed to me by those pesty republicans. Anyway, when I pursue a claim for negligence on behalf of an injured party, there is no "cap" on damages. Victims of negligence are entitled the monetary worth of the damages they have sustained...however high the figure may be. If you feel that you have obtained damages as the result of negligence, feel free to contact us