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PARIS—Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, must
pay a share of more than €190 million ($281 million) in
civil fines and a separate criminal fine in a case over
the 1999 sinking of the oil tanker Erika.
A French
court in
Paris Thursday said Total shared responsibility for the incident
off the coast of
Brittany.
An Italian safety inspector, the Erika’s owner and the
ship’s management company must also jointly pay the
civil fine.
Total
was one of 15 companies and individuals defending
against charges ranging from endangering the lives of
others to criminal complicity in the sinking of the
Erika, which dumped about 20,000 tons of fuel into the
sea. The spill killed tens of thousands of birds and
polluted 400 kilometers (250 miles) of coast. Government
agencies and environmental groups had sought as much as
€1 billion in damages.
“It’s
less than we asked for, but even so, it’s a lot,” said
Yannick Jadot, campaign director of Greenpeace France,
which will receive €30,000 from the judgment. “We are
satisfied with the decision because Total was found
responsible and the court recognized environmental
harm.”
Daniel
Soulez Lariviere, a lawyer for Total, said he would
advise his client to appeal the ruling.
“It is
too early to say whether Total will appeal the pollution
conviction,” spokesman Philippe Gateau said by telephone
from Paris. “We will take a few days to decide.”
The
shipwreck led to changes in how France and the European
Union (EU) treat environmental disasters at sea. France,
which had never pursued a criminal case against a
shipper for an oil spill, raised the maximum fine a
company could face to €1 million from the 375,000
euro-criminal-fine Total was ordered to pay Thursday.
The EU has acted to criminalize intentional, reckless
and “seriously negligent” maritime pollution, a move now
being challenged by industry groups.
The
court left it to the parties to decide how much of the
civil penalties each defendant would pay. The civil
parties will likely try to make Total pay the largest
portion, Soulez Lariviere said.
“Total
is of course the one with the deep pockets,” Soulez
Lariviere said in an interview outside the courtroom.
Shares
of Total fell €1.25 to €54.49 Thursday in French
trading. They’ve risen 5.4 percent over the last year.
“I don’t
think there will be a material impact on Total” from the
trial, Mark Gilman, an analyst with Benchmark Co., said
by telephone from New York.
While
the French government was awarded €154 million from the
fines, almost 75 other parties will receive some funds.
The
regions of Brittany, Pays-de-la-Loire, and
Poitou-Charentes won €5.6 million, €4.7 million and 1
million euros, respectively. The remainder will go to
states, communities, environmental groups, local
advocacy groups, and individuals.
“It was
certainly a very good surprise,” Thomas Dumont, a lawyer
for the state of Morbihan and four towns, said after the
verdict. His clients will receive about €3.3 million.
Total
hired the tanker to carry 30,000 tons of heavy fuel to
Italy. The Maltese ship broke up in a storm with waves
between nine and 14 meters and high winds. RINA SpA, an
Italian ship-safety inspector said the Erika was
seaworthy. Later it was found to have a rusted hull.
Judge
Jean-Baptiste Parlos told a standing-room-only audience
in the courtroom that the “generalized corrosion was, if
not the only cause or original cause, the main cause, of
the accident.”
Parlos’s
278-page opinion spread the blame for the accident
between Total, RINA, the ship’s owner and manager.
The
Erika’s owner and manager’s decision to cut back on
maintenance to save money, Parlos said, “was one of the
causes of the shipwreck.”
Because
oil is “the most corrosive” of products to ship, as well
as “the most polluting and most dangerous to the
environment,” Total committed “a fault of imprudence” in
using the 24-year-old ship, Parlos said.
“We have
submitted clear expert evidence to the court which
proves that RINA was not to blame for this incident,”
said Ugo Salerno, chief executive officer of RINA, in a
faxed statement. “We will appeal and vigorously defend
our interests.”
Total
has spent €200 million in clean-up efforts and denied
responsibility for the spill. (Bloomberg) |
