The BP BI Bundle Ruling: Federal Statutory Displacement of General Maritime Law (Part Ⅰ)

摘要

Among the many unresolved legal questions posed by the Deepwater Horizon well blowout are whether and to what extent maritime tort negligence remedies escape displacement by relevant federal statutes, including, principally, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. OPA jurisprudence over two decades holds that OPA displaces these remedies. Contrarily, however, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana's decision in In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" {Bl Bundle) insists that general maritime law affords a parallel track to OPA's remedies for economic and property oil discharge losses suffered by private claimants. Bl Bundle premises its holding on two contentions. First, OPA's "silence," defined as the statute's failure expressly to displace maritime remedies, demonstrates the U.S. Congress' intent to quarantine OPA as a mere supplement to general maritime law. Second, the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker and Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend authoritatively establish OPA's nondisplace-ment of maritime law punitive damages specifically and of maritime remedies as a whole. As this Article explains, neither claim is persuasive.