BP challenges 'gross negligence' ruling in oil spill | NOLA.com:
by Jennifer Larino
"BP has asked a federal judge to reconsider a ruling that the company acted recklessly leading up to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The British oil company faces as much as $18 billion in fines.
In a motion filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on Thursday (Oct. 2), BP said the findings were based on evidence that was supposed to be excluded from the trial. BP has asked for the ruling to be set aside.
"Findings and conclusions are based substantially on expert witness opinions that the court appropriately and expressly excluded from evidence at trial," BP Vice President Geoff Morrell said in a written statement. "Because those opinions were excluded by the court, they cannot support key aspects of the court's findings, which should therefore be set aside."
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled Sept. 4 that BP acted with "profit-driven decisions" that amounted to "gross negligence" prior to the oil spill. The decision leaves the company open to possibly billions of dollars in additional fines under the Clean Water Act.
The April 2010 blow out of BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 men and sparking the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history.
BP immediately said it would appeal the decision. Thursday's filing is the company's first challenge of Barbier's ruling.
In its motion, BP said Barbier improperly relied on the opinion of an expert witness about the amount and impact of compressive forces on the cement production casing on the Macondo well."
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