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Article

25 Sep 2012

Author:
BBC News [UK]

France upholds Total verdict over Erika oil spill [France]

France's top court has upheld fines imposed on the French oil giant Total for an oil disaster in 1999.The tanker Erika sank off the coast of Brittany dumping 30,000 barrels of heavy fuel oil into the Atlantic sea.Total was convicted of negligence in 2008 for overlooking maintenance problems of the ship it had chartered [the Erika's owner and its manager, were found guilty of negligence, as was Rina, the Italian company that declared the Erika seaworthy]. Total had argued that since the ship had gone down in international waters and was flying a Maltese flag, French courts did not have jurisdiction...Total was fined 375,000 euros (£280,000) and ordered to pay nearly 200m euros in damages to the French state and the local fishing industry.