Attorney Advertising. Keller Rohrback L.L.P. and Lieff Cabraser
Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, which represented those affected by
the Exxon Valdez oil spill, have filed a class action lawsuit
against Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) and Plains
Pipeline, L.P., stemming from the Refugio State Beach oil spill in
Santa Barbara.
This Smart News Release features multimedia.
View the full release here:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150706005728/en/
Keller Rohrback and Lieff Cabraser
Heimann & Bernstein have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf
of those affected by the Refugio oil spill in Santa Barbara.
Pictured is Sarah Rathbone, a plaintiff in the case. (Photo:
Business Wire)
The class action complaint, filed on behalf of fishers, fish
buyers, and other affected businesses, alleges the Texas-based
companies negligently operated the 10-mile-long, 24-inch-wide oil
pipeline, Line 901, causing a rupture that discharged over 100,000
gallons of crude oil onto beaches and into the Pacific Ocean,
creating a slick that stretched for miles, contaminating several
State Marine Conservation Areas along the way, and forcing the
closure of beaches, fishing grounds, and shellfish operations.
“In Santa Barbara, those environmental impacts translate to
profound economic impacts. In the short term, the oil from
Defendants’ ruptured pipeline closed fishing grounds and shellfish
areas, and caused many canceled reservations from tourists who
otherwise would be spending their money on hotels, restaurants,
kayaking or surf trips, and fishing charters,” the complaint
says.
“Santa Barbara values and relies on clean beaches and clean
oceans,” said Matthew Preusch, an attorney in Keller Rohrback’s
Santa Barbara office. “This spill threatens that.”
The complaint was filed on behalf of Keith Andrews, Tiffani
Andrews, Sarah Rathbone, Josh Chancer, Joseph Viens, Cort Pierson,
and Weihai Zhueng.
Keith and Tiffani Andrews fish for a variety of species, but
their primary source of income is trawling for sea cucumbers in the
waters off of Refugio State Beach. The Andrews fish for sea
cucumbers almost exclusively in the waters that were closed because
of the oil spill. That now tainted area is the best habitat for sea
cucumbers.
Sarah Rathbone is the owner and sole member of Community Seafood
LLC. Community Seafood is a “boat to table” business: it buys fresh
fish from local fishermen and delivers it directly to consumers,
who purchase weekly or bi-weekly “shares.” The week following that
spill, Ms. Rathbone did not deliver any shares to her customers due
to concerns over oil contamination. Those roughly 350 cancelled
shares led to lost revenue of over $6,500 for Community Seafood and
Ms. Rathbone.
Josh Chancer is a history teacher at Pacifica High School in
Oxnard. In order to augment his public school salary, Mr. Chancer
is a commercial fisherman during the summer months. For Mr.
Chancer, the timing and location of Plains’ oil spill could not
have been worse: it happened in precisely the waters he routinely
fishes at precisely the time he routinely fishes.
Joseph Viens owns several ATMs at state parks and beaches along
the Gaviota Coast. He makes money from these ATMs by charging
people a small service fee to withdraw cash. When Plains spilled
oil from its pipeline at Refugio State Beach, Mr. Viens’s business
ground to a halt.
Cort Pierson is a fisherman who works on a variety of fishing
boats that sail from Santa Barbara, most recently as an urchin
diver. The oil spill closed one of the most productive sea urchin
fishing grounds in the entire region, and the area in which, but
for the oil spill, Mr. Pierson would have been fishing for
weeks.
Weihai Zhueng purchases sea cucumbers every day from several
different fishing boats during the sea cucumber season in Santa
Barbara. As a result of the oil spill and the resulting fishing
grounds closure, Mr. Zhueng has found there are fewer sea cucumbers
for him to buy, and Mr. Zhueng’s past buyers and potential buyers
are already asking Mr. Zhueng about the quality and safety of sea
cucumbers caught here.
“The purpose of this lawsuit is to repair the damage done to
local fisherman and businesses, and to hold Plains accountable for
all the harm it has wrought on the Santa Barbara community,” said
Robert Nelson, a partner in LCHB’s San Francisco office.
Plains is no stranger to oil spills. The company has accumulated
175 safety and maintenance infractions since 2006. The Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration shows Plains’ rate of
incidents per mile of pipe is more than three times the national
average.
“In short, Plains has an ugly tradition of operating pipelines
that fail. The communities through which it transports oil suffer
the consequences,” the complaint alleges.
If you would like to learn more about the complaint, please
contact attorneys Matthew Preusch or Daniel Mensher at (800)
776-6044 or via email at info@kellerrohrback.com.
A copy of the complaint is available at krcomplexlit.com.
Keller Rohrback represented fishermen, landowners, and
businesses located in Prince William Sound in their action against
Exxon to recover damages caused by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. A
federal jury awarded a $5 billion judgment in favor of Keller
Rohrback clients. Additional claims against the pipeline owner were
settled for $98 million.
Keller Rohrback has also handled environmental litigation
involving home heating oil, contaminated drinking water,
contaminated sediments, landfill leachate, metal smelting and
finishing wastes, tank farms, chemical plants, gas stations, and
major manufacturing concerns.
Keller Rohrback, with offices in Seattle, Phoenix, New York, and
Santa Barbara, serves as lead and co-lead counsel in class actions
throughout the country. The firm’s Complex Litigation Group is
proud to offer its expertise to clients nationwide, and our trial
lawyers have obtained judgments and settlements on behalf of
clients in excess of seven billion dollars.
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a sixty-plus
attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and
Nashville. It is among the largest law firms in the United States
that only represent plaintiffs. Since its founding in 1972, Lieff
Cabraser has litigated and resolved hundreds of class action
lawsuits and thousands of individual cases.
The two firms previously filed cases related to the spill on
behalf of Stace Cheverez and affected fisherman, and Mark Hicks,
the owner of local tour company Captain Jack’s.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar
outcome.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150706005728/en/
Keller Rohrback L.L.P.Matthew Preusch or Daniel Mensher,
Attorneys800-776-6044info@kellerrohrback.comwww.krcomplexlit.com
Plains All American Pipe... (NYSE:PAA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Plains All American Pipe... (NYSE:PAA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024