Total’s conviction for negligence in a 1999 shipwreck
France’s top court on Tuesday upheld energy giant Total’s conviction for negligence in a 1999 shipwreck and oil spill that blackened much of the country’s Atlantic coastline, AFP reports
Total had been found guilty of failing to address maintenance problems when it chartered a rusty 25-year-old tanker, the Erika, that broke in two and sank off the Brittany coast, sparking one of France’s worst environmental disasters.
Plaintiffs in the case had warned that overturning the original rulings would have undermined decades of attempts to hold companies accountable for environmental damage caused by oil spills.
They hailed the Court of Cassation’s ruling as a judgement that would set a strong precedent for future cases.
Bruno Retailleau, the head of the regional council of Vendee, one of the places hit by the slick, said the ruling showed that “the sea is not a lawless place, it is not a place of impunity”.
“This is a decision that will make all oil companies think deeply about the organisation of maritime transport,” said Jean-Pierre Mignard, a lawyer for several coastal districts affected.
The Erika was carrying 30,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and the spill polluted a large stretch of the Brittany coastline, killing tens of thousands of seabirds.
French beach resorts were deserted, fishing was halted and shellfish banned from consumption in the aftermath of the oil spill, leaving the local economy on its knees for years.
Total, Italian certification firm RINA which found the ship to be seaworthy, the Erika’s owner Giuseppe Savarese and its handler Antonio Pollara were all convicted in the case.
All their convictions were upheld in Tuesday’s ruling.
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