Environmental -- 2016



In re Deepwater Horizon   (5th Circuit)

Standard for punitive damages in Clean Water Act litigation

The NAM filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit supporting BP’s challenge to a district court’s improper findings of fact and conclusion of law. Under a procedure known as multidistrict litigation (MDL), most cases in federal courts involving the Deepwater Horizon accident were sent to a single district court in Louisiana for consolidated pretrial proceedings. The MDL district court correctly determined that under the Fifth Circuit’s standard BP was not liable for punitive damages but incorrectly opined that BP would be liable in other circuits where some of the cases consolidated in the MDL originated and may ultimately return for trial. That incorrect comment had the potential to undermine the efficiency and fairness established through the MDL procedure and create judicial inefficiencies. The NAM’s brief argued that the MDL judge wrongly opined on the availability of punitive damages under standards applied by other circuits and instead should have focused only on the law of the Fifth Circuit. The case was dismissed by stipulation of the parties.


Related Documents:
NAM brief  (June 8, 2015)