Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent
PARIS, Feb. 7 -- Total SA has been summoned to a French court of summary jurisdiction to be tried for "marine pollution" and "complicity in endangering the life of others" in connection with the Dec. 12, 1999, shipwreck of the Erika tanker and heavy fuel oil spill off the Brittany coast.
Paris Judge Dominique de Talancé indicted the company and all parties involved in the wreck and spill, which polluted 400 km of coastline, in 2001 (OGJ, Nov. 19, 2001, Newsletter).
Total is blamed for having contravened "its own vetting rules" covering condition of the tanker, which broke in two in heavy weather.
Total told OGJ that the accusations are factually and legally unfounded and pointed to strict tanker policies it adopted after the "catastrophe, which strongly marked it."
