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12 U. S. F. Mar. L. J. 1 (1999-2000)
OPA '90 Liability in the Aftermath of an Oil Spill

handle is hein.journals/usfm12 and id is 11 raw text is: OPA '90 Liability in the Aftermath of an Oil Spill By HUTSON SMELLEY* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 2 II. RESPONSIBLE PARTIES: WHO IS LIABLE? ................................................................... 4 A. The Definition of Responsible Party. ............................................................. 6 B. Application of the Responsible Party Definition .............................................. 7 1. Corporate Liability: Piercing the Corporate Veil ....................................... 7 2. Secured Creditor Liability .......................................................................... 9 3. Cargo Owner Liability .................................................................................. 9 4. Procedural Considerations when Defining a Responsible Party ................ 10 5. Jurisdictional Boundaries .......................................................................... 10 II. EXTENT OF LIABILITY .................................................................................................. 11 A. Removal Costs ....................................................................................................... 11 1. How Clean is Clean? ................................................................................. 12 2. Availability of Technology and Other Factors ............................................ 14 3. Incidental Costs ........................................................................................ 14 B. Congress Overrules the Robins Dry Dock and M/V TESTBANK Decisions: Liability Beyond Proprietary Interests .............................................................. 15 I. Preassessment Phase .................................................................................. 18 2. Restoration Planning Phase ........................................................................ 19 3. Final Phase ............................................................................................... 21 C. Civil Penalties .................................................................................................. 25 D. The Savings Clause: Preserving States' Rights to Impose More Liability ............ 26 IV. DEFENSES AND LmIITATIONS ON LIABLiTY .............................................................. 26 A. Defenses ............................................................................................................ 26 B. Liability Limits .................................................................................................. 27 V . FUNDING .......................................................................................................................... 29 * Hutson Smelley is an Associate at Mayer, Brown & Platt in Houston, Texas. This article is dedicated to Gus Schill Jr., adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center and Of Counsel at Royston, Rayzor, Vickery and Williams, not only for his excellent teaching of the law, but for those pearls of wisdom and experience about being a good lawyer and a good human being at the same time.

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