French oil giant Total SA (FP.FR) Tuesday lost a bid to overturn a Paris court decision finding it guilty of negligence over a 1999 shipwreck and oil spill off the coast of Brittany.
French oil giant Total SA (FP.FR) Tuesday lost a bid to overturn a
Paris
court
decision finding it guilty of negligence over a 1999 shipwreck and oil spill
off the coast of
Brittany
.
The
Paris
appeals court confirmed the conviction and a fine of 375,000 euros ($500,000)
that was imposed on Total in the 2008 ruling.
Total was found guilty of failing to take into account the age of the tanker
Erika and of ignoring maintenance problems when it chartered the rusty
25-year-old vessel.
The Erika was carrying 30,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil when it broke in
two and sank off the
Brittany
coast
Dec. 12, 1999
,
polluting a large stretch of coastline and killing tens of thousands of
seabirds.
The
Paris
criminal court had also ordered Total and three other parties in its initial
ruling in 2008 to pay EUR192 million in compensation to civil plaintiffs in the
case.
The appeals tribunal confirmed the lower court ruling that the owner and
manager of the tanker--along with the Italian RINA certification firm that
found the tanker to be seaworthy--were also at fault.
The ruling in one of
France
's
worst environmental disasters established a legal precedent by recognizing that
polluters can be held accountable for harming the environment.
Ακολουθήστε το energia.gr στο Google News!Παρακολουθήστε τις εξελίξεις με την υπογραφη εγκυρότητας του energia.gr
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Πεμ, 3 Ιουλίου 2025 - 08:02
Πεμ, 3 Ιουλίου 2025 - 08:01
Τετ, 2 Ιουλίου 2025 - 08:34
Τετ, 2 Ιουλίου 2025 - 08:26
Τρι, 1 Ιουλίου 2025 - 07:58