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Oil Spill’s Impact On The Seafood Market; Lawsuits Filed
May 10, 2010
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill first sparked a seafood buying frenzy along the Gulf Coast, with popular local markets like Joe Patti’s Seafood jammed packed last weekend.
On Saturday, May 1, the iconic seafood market was packed wall to wall with customers stocking up on shrimp and their favorite fish — many out of the fear that it would not be available for some time in the future.
But those in the local seafood industry and others that rely on the Gulf of Mexico for their bottom line fear bad times are ahead. Joe Patti Seafood, wholesaler Southern Seafood of Pace; Premier Island Management Group; Bay Breeze Aquatics & Dive Center; other shrimpers, oystermen and charter boat owners and several additional plaintiffs filed suit in federal district court in Pensacola.
Defendants in the suit, filed by Levin Papantonio law firm, include BP and Transocean, Ltd. The plaintiffs contend that the oil spill will cause them to lose business.
Fast forward to Saturday, May 8. A federal fishing ban was in effect 25 miles off the Pensacola coast — leaving most fishing waters open. The displays at Joe Patti’s were packed high with fresh, safe local seafood not impacted by the oil spill. A couple of hours after opening time, employees stood lined up behind the counter waiting to help customers. No line, no waiting — no “take a number” announcements.
Fishermen, local fishermen and government officials all say local Gulf seafood is safe for now, and there’s no need to worry about quality. The federal and state governments have strong systems in place to test and monitor seafood safety and to prohibit harvesting from affected areas and keeping oiled products out of the marketplace.
Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson said that seafood currently being harvested in Florida is safe and has not been impacted by the oil spill in the gulf. He is concerned that misinformation about the conditions in the gulf waters may unnecessarily impact the state’s seafood industry.
“Our shrimp, shellfish and other seafood being harvested right now are fine, and I don’t want people watching reports of the oil spill to think differently,” Bronson said. “If and when Florida waters are impacted by the spill, we will take immediate action to close the waters to commercial and recreational harvesting.”
As of early Monday morning, weather conditions remained favorable for the local area. Winds and currents were continuing to keep the plume away from the Florida coast for at least another 72 hours, according to Escambia County officials.
Pictured top: Customers purchase seafood Saturday morning at Joe Patti’s Seafood Company in Pensacola. Pictured top inset: Workers prepare fresh fish for customers. Pictured bottom inset: Boats back from the morning catch outside Joe Patti’s Seafood. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
14 Responses to “Oil Spill’s Impact On The Seafood Market; Lawsuits Filed”
watchman,
it puts a whole new meaning to “a roll in the hay”
David preferring oily hay to oily beaches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5SxX2EntEo
Thanks! =)
REGARDING:
“How can they sue them? They didn’t intentionally destroy all these peoples livelihoods. ”
Short answer: They can sue to force payment of what is owed for the event in a timely manner and to whom it is owed.
Long answer:
You can sue for damages because someone did something which hurt you. It doesn’t so much matter if they intended to do so, they did. My understanding is to be made whole, restored to the condition before the action. That isn’t always possible, so they figure the value of what was taken and replace it with money.
Also there is contractual liability. It is my understanding that part of buying a lease offshore (for hundreds of millions of dollars and a large share going into the federal treasury) involves promising to pay the cost of any damage caused in exploration, development and operations. That obligates them under federal law.
A question which gets settled by juries in these law suits is who all is involved and how much responsibility lies on each party. Part of the question is who did anything wrong? BP contracted with whomever to have Deepwater Horizon safely drill and complete the well. One of both of them contracted with Halliburton to cement the production liner in place.
Since BP is the responsible party and DH was doing the work and Halliburton was involved in operations, lawyers want to get into as many pockets as possible for their clients or to keep as many people out of their client’s pockets as possible, all depending on whom they represent.
Since lawyers will get a cut of whatever is decided, they are morally obligated to get their hands out. Lawyers are very moral about getting money.
Making people whole isn’t enough either. That just brings you back to where you were at the beginning. Punitive damages can be the real money maker. Get an angry jury and they can really stick it to whomever has the worst case or at least the worst lawyers.
People still throw fits at how Exxon didn’t pay all the punitive damages which were originally awarded in the Exxon Valdez. After they paid all expenses to cover the cost of damage to the environment, there was still a punitive damage award of billions of dollars.
They were being punished because a DUI captain ran his tanker into the state of Alaska. Exxon certainly didn’t want him running a ship under those conditions but didn’t know. The United States government which licensed the captain didn’t want him running a ship under those conditions but they didn’t know.
Even though the captain caused the disaster, he didn’t have enough money to pay anything compared to the damage done and they couldn’t sue the federal government, so Exxon was the whipping boy and an angry jury awarded punitive damages against Exxon rather than the captain.
Later judges said, nope, punishment does not fit the action. They didn’t intend to do it but should have intended to not do it, so I think they dropped punishment to a mere half a billion dollars ($500,000,000,000)–still a lot of bubble gum but not as good a cut as the lawyers were hoping on.
Did I over-answer the question? I tend to do that just as I tend to go astray on similar or related events.
One of the good things about punitive damages is that they scare people into being as careful as possible—-about being sued if not about doing things for which someone might want to sue. A corporation has neither heart to feel nor bottom to kick but they do have wallet to pick.
David for speedy restoration of Gulf of Mexico
anydaynow– It is just amazing how lefties are so quick to blame EVERYTHING on Bush. He did not do everything right, however, I sure do miss him now. Obama and his goons will use this and any other “crisis” to take away more of our freedom. You think about this this summer when you are paying over $4.50 for gas and need to go to the grocery store.
How can they sue them? They didn’t intentionally destroy all these peoples livelihoods. Not saying that they can’t, it was an actual question. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t understand.
(influs of fluids
(INFLUX of fluids
David trying to use big words
REGARDING:
“The world is dominated by big business.. by design they act without regard to anything other than profit. ….. All across the world companies get away with a lot, with very little consequence. (i.e. Chernobyl,…..”
Actually, Chernobyl was not operated by big business but by big government, id est USSR. And many of the people working there were killed and their families had to move far away to avoid dying from radioactive fallout. A vast area which had provided food was placed off limits from agriculture. Their people lost confidence in the government and ultimately it contributed to the downfall of an empire.
Interestingly, the whole problem was caused by individuals working there who wondered what would happen if they drained the coolant from the nuclear reactor. I guess they were surprised when it got hot and caught on fire and destroyed the reactor and spewed radioactie particles around the world.
None of this was done for profit motive.
What you need is a proper profit/risk analysis. “This may save us X millions of dollars; it may cost us life on this planet. Too risky.”
I finally found out what caused the blowout in the first place. They had cemented a production liner and were getting ready to put in a top cement plug and leave the well for production later. They decided to replace the heavier mud in the riser which applies pressure to avoid a kick (influs of fluids such as gas and petroleum) with lighter sea water, expecting the cement and the check valves to hold the pressure.
It turned out they didn’t.
Oops
The world is dominated by big business.. by design they act without regard to anything other than profit. I am ok with that (I own stocks myself), but we [the people] have to live by the same rules if we expect to co-exist.. or god forbid thrive in a world run by companies. On good days, they profit, on bad days they have to pay up. All across the world companies get away with a lot, with very little consequence. (i.e. Chernobyl, Mayak, its a huge list). What happened to BP was an accident, but if governments rush to the aid of big companies then they can consider themselves just another department in the building. Unfortunately for BP this accident happened in America, where at least for now our government attempts to stay objective and our citizens can afford legal council. Its the nature of the beast, the same beast that soared BP into profits has turned its eyes on them. In complete fairness, its time they pay the piper.
Anybody else notice the trial lawyer commercials are starting? They’re ready to start making money on this, I guess they’re gonna chase shrimp boats for awhile instead of ambulances. We’ll be hearing it for the next year or so, just like those mesothelioma commercials.
billy-George Bush made Randall Luthi director of Minerals Management Service. Mr. Luthi and the Bush administration changed the regulations on offshore drilling and put the corporations in charge of regulating themselves and we see how that worked out….so…
thank billy you could not have said it eney better
I don’t understand. The Feds want to bail out companies who were reckless and stupid but they want the pants sued off of a company who had accident. I don’t think we should pay for the clean up but I do think that if we are going to give a cent to GM or Fanny Mae or any of those goof balls we should be so reckless with our mouth. Thank you again obama for jumping to conclusions and making us look stupid before you got any knowledge of the incident.
I love the shrimp from Joe Patti. We’ve been shopping there for years.