"Judge: BP 'grossly negligent' in Deepwater Horizon spill", 4 Sep 2014

A U.S. District Court judge found BP grossly negligent and guilty of willful misconduct Thursday for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, a ruling that could hit BP with penalties of up to $18 billion...BP said it “strongly disagrees” with the ruling and said the ruling is “not supported by the evidence at trial.” BP said it will appeal. Texas-based Halliburton and Switzerland-based Transocean were found negligent but not reckless. The judge divided fault for the spill at 67 percent for BP, 30 percent for Transocean and 3 percent for Halliburton. The judge called BP “reckless” for failing to properly test the Macando well that blew out, killing 11 workers and igniting a fire...The judge must still issue rulings on BP’s effort to stop the spill and on how much oil was spilled...Under the Clean Water Act, BP could face a fine of $4,300 per barrel...“During the penalty proceedings, BP will seek to show that its conduct merits a penalty that is less than the applicable maximum after application of the statutory factors,” BP said...  [The court's decision is available here.]