A federal district judge in New Orleans dismissed 24 individual claims against Nalco Co. stemming from the 2010 Macondo deepwater well crude oil spill cleanup.
The claims, in which the plaintiffs said they suffered personal injuries from exposure to Nalco’s Corexit spill dispersant, are preempted by the comprehensive oil spill response scheme set forth in the Clean Water Act and National Contingency Plan, Judge Carl J. Barbier, of US District Court for Louisiana’s Eastern District, said in a Nov. 28 decision.
Nalco was named as defendant in 24 cases under the spill’s multidistrict litigation, which were consolidated in MDL 2179. Latham & Watkins LLP represented the Naperville, Ill., water treatment and process improvement company in the proceedings.
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About the Author
Nick Snow
NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.