Convinction in Paris oil spill
PARIS (AP) - January 16, 2008 The court found Total guilty of maritime pollution and fined it
the maximum penalty of $560,000. It also ordered Total and three
other defendants to pay total damages of $285 million.
The court acquitted Total on a separate charge of complicity in
endangering people and property.
The Erika, carrying fuel oil owned by a unit of Total, split in
two and sank in rough seas off western France on Dec. 12, 1999.
Nearly six million gallons of oil leaked into the Atlantic, killing
up to 75,000 birds and blackening beaches.
The verdict was a stinging blow for Total, France's biggest
company by market value. The Paris court faulted the company for
"carelessness."
The 15 defendants all claimed their innocence during the
four-month trial, which ended in June. Civil parties to the case
are seeking more than $1.5 billion in combined civil penalties.
A year after the 1999 sinking, the European Union agreed on
tighter controls on maritime safety, notably the phasing out of
single hull tankers like Erika.
A subsequent investigation by France's Bureau of Inquiries into
Sea Accidents blamed lack of maintenance and corrosion aboard the
tanker as the main causes for the spill.
