Is the BP Oil Well Blowout an Admiralty Tort?
13 Pages Posted: 22 Apr 2011
Date Written: April 17, 2011
Abstract
Despite the passage decades ago of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (1953) and the Oil Pollution Act (1990), the status of the BP oil well blowout as a general maritime law/admiralty event is unclear. The outcome of this most central of all issues in upcoming BP blowout-driven litigation will turn ultimately on the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of whether Congress intended to deny admiralty jurisdiction under these two statutes for blowouts occurring on the Outer Continental Shelf. The most likely guides to the Court's resolution will be its decisions in the Executive Jet through Grubart line of decisions addressing the need in admiralty for a "substantial relationship" between the tortfeasor's activity and a "traditional maritime activity," and the Rodrigue/Herb's Welding line addressing whether or not activities associated with the drilling of oil on the Outer Continental Shelf constitute "maritime commerce." The paper, following the decision of Judge Richard Posner in Tagliere v. Harrah's Illinois Corporation predicts that the outcome will depend upon whether the Court ultimately favors what he refers to as a "clear" basis for the jurisdictional determination - under which admiralty jurisdiction will be found - or as a "common sense" answer - under which it will be denied.
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