| August 9, 2006
(Houston -- TX) US District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain has dismissed the claims of the Basque communities against ABS relating to the loss of the oil tanker Prestige and has ruled the case closed.
The ruling follows the payment of Euros 45.6m to the Basques by the Spanish Government under a compensation agreement. The Basques had sought to recover $50m from ABS for direct damages incurred by the various Basque communities from the incident. The Basques had petitioned the US Court to dismiss their action “without prejudice.”
Judge Swain ruled in favour of ABS that the motion be dismissed “with prejudice” meaning that the Basque communities should not be able to pursue future suit against ABS in the matter of the Prestige. Judge Swain’s ruling finds that ABS “would suffer substantial legal prejudice – over and above the mere prospect of a second law suit – were this action to be dismissed without prejudice.”
“This is a significant step forward in reconciling these unwarranted claims against ABS relating to the loss of the Prestige for which the blame rests solely with the Spanish government for its decision to recklessly send a damaged vessel out to sea” said Stewart Wade, ABS Vice President External Affairs.
ABS continues to pursue Spanish Court “nullity actions” against the Basque Government and other Basque entities in Spain. This latest ruling by the US Judge clearly reinforces ABS’s right to seek redress before the Spanish courts. These Spanish actions seek a declaration by the Spanish courts that the Basques wrongly ignored Spanish law in pursuing ABS, firstly in Houston and later in NY, for damages that the Basques had always admitted publicly Spain would pay to them.
The litigation in Spain also seeks the recovery of the considerable legal costs and fees that the class society has outlaid in defending itself against the Basque claims. Judge Swain’s ruling specifically noted that it shall not be construed as affecting the nullity actions pending in Spain.
“From the outset this was a frivolous claim against ABS,” said Wade. “It has always been our contention that, pursuant to Spanish law, the Basques had no standing to pursue this action in the US and that they should look to Spain for their alleged damages. Although the matter never reached the trial stage in the US, ABS has expended a substantial amount of time and money preparing its defence in Houston and NY and it is only fair and appropriate that we should recover compensation for those efforts from the Basques. We will continue to vigorously pursue the nullity action against them in the expectation that justice will also be done in Spain.”
Founded in 1862, ABS is a leading international classification society devoted to promoting the security of life, property and the marine environment through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine-related facilities.
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