U.S. District Court Finds BP Grossly Negligent in Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

On September 4, 2014, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier issued a ruling holding that BP Exploration & Production Inc. is subject to enhanced civil penalties under the Clean Water Act (CWA) because the deadly April 20, 2010 blowout, explosion, fire and massive oil spill at the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico was due to BP’s gross negligence and willful misconduct. Thousands of cases involving over a hundred thousand claimants have been filed in federal and state courts. The case is