5th Circuit: Tugboat Company Was Operator Of Barge That Collided With Bridge

Mealey's (September 26, 2018, 2:07 PM EDT) -- NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 21 upheld a federal judge in Mississippi’s ruling awarding partial summary judgment to the government on its claim that a tugboat company was the operator of two oil-carrying barges that collided with a bridge resulting in an oil spill under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), holding that the defendant company was engaged in the activity that caused the pollution (United States of America v. Nature’s Way Marine LLC, No. 17-60698, 5th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 27152)....