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Florida Files Suit Against BP On Three Year Anniversary Of Oil Spill
April 21, 2013
Florida filed its own lawsuit Saturday against BP and Halliburton Company seeking to recoup revenue the state claims it lost after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill. The lawsuit was filed in the Panama City Division of the Northern District of Florida.
The lawsuit includes numerous federal, state and maritime counts. Under the Oil Pollution Act, the State of Florida is entitled to the revenues it lost due to the oil spill, including sales and use taxes; corporate taxes; documentary stamp taxes; cigarette surcharges; cigarette excise taxes; beer, wine, and liquor taxes; fuel taxes; rental car surcharges; and utility taxes and receipts. The State is also seeking punitive damages under maritime and Florida common law due to the egregious nature of the misconduct that led to this environmental and economic disaster.
Two years ago the state rejected a chance to join the on-going federal lawsuit in Louisiana over the Gulf of Mexico spill, with Gov. Rick Scott saying at the time he wanted to ensure Florida was “treated fairly” in terms of receiving reimbursement from BP. The filing came just before the three-year statute of limitation, under the Oil Protection Act, to recover economic losses from the spill.
“The State of Florida suffered considerable economic losses as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and BP and Halliburton must be held accountable,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a release.
Representatives from BP and Halliburton didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bondi’s lawsuit comes as the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced Friday new test results showing Florida seafood products from the Gulf are safe.
“These tests show that Florida seafood is without a doubt safe to eat. Our shrimp, fish and other products continue to be some of the best quality seafood in the world,” Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said in a release.
The department has used $20 million from BP for testing the more than 3,000 different seafood products from the Gulf and to promote the seafood industry.
Comments
7 Responses to “Florida Files Suit Against BP On Three Year Anniversary Of Oil Spill”
David is right. The Federal Court has established a very strict set of objective guidelines for determining if a company actually experienced loss. It is extremely difficult, to get away with ‘getting free money’ and fraud at that.
Not blaming Republicans or Democrats or anyone of that nature. But it is interesting to note that when BP has to pay out Millions apon Millions of dollars to local business who claim to be affected by the oil gusher the price of Gasoline magically goes up 10 cents or so to cover their losses and legal fees. In the end BP does not loose money, they do just like every other business in which they hand the consumer the bill by increasing their prices of their goods and services. It dosen’t matter what the price of crude oil is or the amount of supply of gasoline they have on hand, they will set the price and you will pay it. It’s that simple.
I believe the GOP cry when President Obama held the culprits accountable and forced them to put money in an escrow account to cover the damage was “highway robbery”, funny how the wind blows.
More free money for everyone.. Ridiculous
Looks like Florida milked this right to the very end.
suing for loss of cigarette sales. Makes some sense but still interesting.
Dear Sirs, BP has already accepted responsibility for the disaster and a trial is now underway to establish the extent of their negligence. Most importantly the “individuals and business’s” must compensated before the counties and Government Agencies. The victims bore the brunt of the BP disaster, and many are still waiting for compensation, three years after the event. Pressure must be applied by the Judicial system to force BP to process and pay all legitimate claims without any further delays. Clearly these delays are part of a tactic by BP lawyers in order to break the spirit of the claimants, who will then accept a token offer to settle.