Gulf Oil Disaster — Lessons in Torts and Bailouts
The oil rig explosion that killed eleven workers and causes the daily flow of an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico presents a gut check moment on tort policy. A lot of harm has been and will be caused by this catastrophe, and somebody will bear the cost of that harm. Should it be the responsible parties? the victims? the taxpayers?
American tort law, under the principles of proximate cause and nuisance, tells some victims that they must bear the cost of their own harm because it is either too remote (not a “proximate” cause) or too common (to be compensable, damages from a public nuisance must be “different in kind” from those suffered by others) to require the responsible party to pay. The responsibility of those whose conduct caused the harm must have a “sensible and just” stopping point, according to established doctrine. As a general matter, under common law principles, it is “sensible and just” to cause victims to bear their own costs if the harm they suffer is essentially economic or emotional in nature, as opposed to bodily injury or property damage.
These uncompensated losses often hit the taxpayers as well as the victim.
On Friday, February 26, 2010, Marquette University Law School (MULS) will hold its annual Public Service Conference at the Alumni Memorial Union on the Marquette University campus on the increasingly important topic of water law. The conference, entitled “Water and People,” will address water issues in Wisconsin (as well as nationally and internationally), development and the environment, regulation, and water ethics. Statewide leaders from business, government, and non-profit served on a steering committee that worked with Assistant Dean for Public Service, Dan Idzikowski, and myself (I coordinate the MULS water law program) to plan the conference. Based on the group’s efforts, experts from Wisconsin, around the United States, and from Canada will gather to talk about some of the most important topics in the field of water law. The conference will also feature a keynote address by Cameron Davis, senior advisor to the United States EPA Administrator for Great Lakes Restoration. You can learn more about the conference and register for the conference at