Amplify Energy Oil Spill Personal, Business, and Commercial Losses Class Action

A number of lawsuits have been filed against Amplify Energy Corporation, Beta Operation Company, LLC (which does business as Beta Offshore), and the San Pedro Bay Pipeline Company, and assorted Does, or unknown persons, over the October 2021 oil spill in the San Pedro Bay. This class action is another one. Its complaint states, “This lawsuit is brought to recover business and/or commercial losses and other damages by owners/operators of local businesses in close proximity to the Spill.”

The class for this action is all persons, entities, and commercial enterprises suffering business, personal, or commercial losses in Orange County, California coastal cities, including (but not limited to) Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Dana Point, and Laguna Beach, beginning on or around October 1, 2021, and still continuing as a result of the oil spill.

The oil spill began sometime between the evening of October 1 and the morning of October 2, 2021. A break in Beta Offshore’s sixteen-inch San Pedro Bay Pipeline spilled crude oil into the San Pedro Bay, on the Pacific Ocean, just four miles from shore. Beta and the San Pedro Bay Pipeline Company are subsidiaries of Amplify Energy.

People living in Huntington Beach, California reported smells related to the spill on the evening of October 1, and the oil slick could be seen by the early hours of October 2. It began to wash ashore in Huntington Beach by the early morning of October 3.

The complaint alleges, “The total amount of crude oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean is yet unknown, but estimates show as much as 144,000 gallons gushed into ocean waters over the first few days of October 2021. The full extent of the Spill, and the length of time before it was stopped, is not currently known.”

By late December, beaches were open again, but tar from the spill continued to wash ashore.

This class action concerns the “business and/or commercial losses related to commercial sea operations and general commercial operations by virtue of their proximity to the Spill, and the stigma associated with operating so near to the Spill.”

One of the plaintiffs in this case, Eric Karsgor, operates a dog training company which often holds its training sessions on the beachfront of Huntington Beach. He says he has lost a considerable amount of his business as the result of the spill, the closures of the area’s beaches, and “the continues stigma surrounding the closures of said beaches…”

The other, Robert Moran, is a commercial fisherman who dives for sea urchins in different areas of Orange County, California. He says he has lost money and profits because of the harbor and beach closures, and he believes his business will continue to be affected in the future.

Among the claims for relief are negligence, trespass, strict liability for ultrahazardous activities, and lost profits and earning capacity damages under the Federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Environmental, Liability
Tags: Business Losses, Environmental, Environmental Damage, Oil Spill