In re Deepwater Horizon Litigation Lawsuit

In re Deepwater Horizon Litigation

Incident and responsible parties

The litigation arose from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, a semisubmersible drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP in the Gulf of Mexico, and the resulting blowout of the Macondo well on April 20, 2010. BP was the operator of the well; Halliburton had performed the well's cementing, and Cameron International had manufactured the rig's blowout preventer. The explosion killed eleven workers, and the well continued to discharge oil into the Gulf for roughly three months, making the incident the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history.

Harm

The spill reached large areas of Gulf waters and shoreline, affecting fisheries, marine and wetland wildlife, and coastal tourism. Economic-loss claims came from fishermen, hotel operators, landowners, rental companies, restaurants, and seafood processors who reported current or anticipated loss of business. In addition, residents who lived or worked near oil-impacted shores and cleanup workers brought claims alleging personal injury, including documented health conditions attributed to exposure to oil and dispersants.

Litigation course

Claims were filed in state and federal courts across the Gulf region and were consolidated in In re Deepwater Horizon Litigation, docket 2:10-md-2179 (MDL No. 2179), in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, before Judge Carl J. Barbier; the consolidated docket was filed on May 6, 2010. The court tried the case without a jury, consistent with admiralty practice. A civil action under the Clean Water Act brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against BP and the other well participants was consolidated with the MDL, alongside actions by Gulf states, individuals, and businesses. The consolidated trial proceeded in phases: a first phase addressing the liability of BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and other companies and the degree of fault of each, and a later phase addressing the volume of oil spilled and responsibility for containing it. In the course of those proceedings, the court found that BP's conduct amounted to gross negligence and willful misconduct, attributing the largest share of responsibility to BP and lesser shares to the rig owner and the cementing contractor. BP also resolved the related criminal case by pleading guilty to felony counts connected with the deaths of the workers.

Outcome

BP settled the government's civil claims in 2015, and a global settlement with the federal government and the Gulf states was reached in April 2016, allocating a substantial portion of the settlement to Gulf restoration under the RESTORE Act. The matter is accordingly recorded as resolved in 2016 by settlement, while individual claims continued to be resolved through the MDL's court-supervised claims process.

The MDL remains formally open for residual matters.