Showing posts with label Oil Spill Liability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil Spill Liability. Show all posts

Friday, June 4, 2010

Homeowners Insurance Coverage For Oil Damage

Florida Oil Spill - Lawyer Attorney - Toll Free, Florida Oil Spill Cleanup, Homeowners Insurance, Oil Spill Liability, Oils Spill Lawsuit Attorney
Some have claimed that the next challenge for homeowners who suffer from the Gulf Oil Spill in Florida may be a fight over whether the large insurance corporations will pay claims based on oil spill damage. Oddly, this may come down to whether crude oil damage is a product even covered under policies. Crude oil may not be a "pollutant" under coverage definitions. The distinction between refined petroleum products and crude oil blasting from a well may be the next dispute.

Is the Deepwater Horizon disaster an "explosion" as defined in policies? Yet another trap for beleaguered victims of the Florida Oil Spill. If the only damage is to the land or beach, some argue that the land or beach is not "property" covered under policies. Expect a tough fight from all corporate entities involved.


Source: http://www.insurancerate.com/will-home-insurance-absorb-costs-of-oil-spill-damage.php

Monday, May 24, 2010

Liability For Florida Oil Spill - Law Review

Florida Oil Spill Attorney Lawyer
In 1997, a Case Western Law Review article, the author outlined the liability issues that arise from oil disasters in the context of the Alaskan Exxon Valdez incident. A summary of the findings follows:

"When the Exxon Valdez fetched up on Bligh Reef in Alaska in 1989, the nation's attention was focused on the problem of oil spill liability and compensation as never before. The national outcry that accompanied televised pictures of oil-stained beaches and dead or dying wildlife prompted Congress to undertake a review of the nation's oil spill laws. Fifteen years of congressional confusion and inaction evaporated overnight, and a consensus rarely seen in Congress developed to produce a dramatic overhaul of federal oil pollution legislation. The result was the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), which was designed to serve as the foundation of a package of complementary international, national, and state laws intended to 'adequately compensate' victims of oil spills and provide quick, efficient cleanup. "
 

"OPA contains several provisions that bring the nation much closer to this goal: It provides strict liability with increased liability limits on those responsible for oil spills; it broadens the rights and remedies afforded those injured by pollution damage; it creates a fund designed to ensure adequate compensation for those unable to recover the costs of cleanup or other damage from the dischargers of oil; and it tightens operation and construction requirements applicable to vessels transporting oil in American waters."

The article is informative in light of the recent events in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig was a vessel registered in the Marshall Islands, so the rules applicable to vessels that cause an oil spill may be in play.


Source: 48 Case W. Res. 1

Oil Spill Liability