Nov 17, 2008 9:47 pm US/Pacific
Judge Dismisses Countersuit By Cosco Busan Owner
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
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The Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge November, 7th, 2007.
CBS
A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday dismissed a counterclaim filed against the state of California by the owner and operator of a ship that spilled nearly 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay last year.
Hong Kong-based Regal Stone Ltd., the owner of the Cosco Busan, and Fleet Management Ltd., its operator, had claimed the state was responsible for the oil spill because it gave pilot John Cota his license.
The ship piloted by Cota, 60, of Petaluma, spilled nearly 54,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel after hitting a protective fender of a Bay Bridge support tower in heavy fog Nov. 7, 2007.
Regal Stone and Fleet Management had filed their case against the state as a counterclaim to a civil lawsuit filed against them by the U.S. Government.
But U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti dismissed the counterclaim on grounds of the sovereign immunity doctrine of the U.S. Constitution's 11th Amendment, which forbids lawsuits by citizens against states in federal court.
Conti wrote the counterclaim "conflicts with more than 200 years of law in which the sovereignty of the states has been recognized."
The spill killed birds, fouled beaches and disrupted the fishing industry. The clean-up and compensation costs have been estimated by Regal Stone at $80 million.
In addition to the suit by the U.S. government, Regal Stone, Fleet Management and Cota face other federal civil lawsuits filed by two sets of fishermen, the state and a pilot's association insurance company.
In the most recent case in the series, Regal Stone and Fleet Management sued Cota and the San Francisco Bar Pilot's Association in federal court Nov. 7.
Conti is scheduled to hold a case management conference on the civil cases Dec. 12.
In a separate proceeding, Cota and Fleet Management are scheduled to go on trial in the court of a different federal judge in San Francisco in April on criminal charges of polluting the bay and killing migratory birds.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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