The collision of two barge convoys on the lower Mississippi River in February 2014 was far from a major casualty, but the litigation in its wake has helped answer a question that has loomed in US shipping law under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (OPA 90).
The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Kentucky tug owner Marquette Transportation Co must contribute its share of the economic damages that Louisiana rival Settoon Towing has already paid for the oil spill because the US Coast Guard declared Settoon a “responsible party”.
