BP Faces Dozens of Class Action Lawsuits Over Oil Spill

The BP oil spill that resulted from the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion is doing more than muck up the waters of the Gulf of Mexico; it’s also dredging up dozens of class action lawsuits against the oil company.

At least 31 proposed class action lawsuits have been filed against BP by commercial fishermen, shrimpers, charter-boat operators and beachfront-property owners who claim they’ve suffered economic losses and had their livelihoods damaged by the drifting oil spill. The oil company also faces individual and combined lawsuits from the families of the workers who were injured or died during the drilling rig explosion on April 20.

Other companies are named in the lawsuits, but BP bears the brunt of the liability since the oil belongs to them. The Oil Pollution Act, passed after the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill, means plaintiffs of the class actions don’t have to prove that BP was negligent or grossly negligent. As more and more crude oil spills into the ocean — 5,000 barrels a day — more and more lawsuits are expected to pop up. [BusinessWeek]