Numerous residents and businesses along the Grand Strand, including Divine Fish House and a Litchfield real estate company, have filed a class-action suit against oil giant BP after the April 20 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil slick "will cause detrimental effects and damages upon the entire South Carolina marine environments ... and properties" which are used by the plaintiffs, reads the first of three class action suits filed in federal court on Sunday.
Ed Bell of the Georgetown firm Bell Legal Group and Myrtle Beach's Tommy Brittain of The Brittain Law Firm are representing the plaintiffs.
They are suing BP and other companies they allege are at fault for the explosion on the oil rig, its subsequent sinking and the oil spill that's come from that (see the bottom of this article for listing of defendants.)
The lawyers say a measurable amount of oil has now entered the Gulf of Mexico's "loop current" and is threatening South Carolina's beaches, fishing habitats and recreational areas.
Based on "ominous" news reports of the oil possibly coming ashore, property values along the South Carolina coast have begun to decline, the lawsuit alleges.
Furthermore, the lawyers allege more damages are anticipated, and they say the oil spill will continue to cause lost revenue to business due to the "stigma created that South Carolina's coast and seafood have been, or will continue to be, contaminated by the oil."
The are suing BP and others on the grounds of negligence, strict liability for abnormally dangerous activity, strict products liability for manufacturing defect, and violations of the oil pollution act.
The plaintiffs in the first case are seeking damages in the amount of no less than $5 million.
In the second lawsuit, a number of businesses, including Divine Fish House, Inc., and Bluewater Food Service, Inc., allege that the oil spill has discouraged tourists from coming to South Carolina, though no oil has washed ashore.
"As a result of the oil spill and the detrimental affect (sic) it has played on the tourism trade in South Carolina," the suit reads, "plaintiffs have experienced a significant dip in customer attendance that appears to be getting worse by the day."
The lawyers say the oil spill has caused and will continue to case lost revenue to businesses that are economically dependant on South Carolina tourism.
Members of the second class action suit are also seeking damages no less than $5 million in value.
The third and final lawsuit was filed by The Litchfield Company, a company which "specializes in the listing and sale of properties located on or near the coast of South Carolina."
"Once it became clear that early oil spill containment efforts had failed, the tourism and housing industry in coastal counties (in) South Carolina was immediately affected," the lawsuit reads.
The third lawsuit reiterates that "detrimental" affect the oil spill has "played on tourism trade in South Carolina," and because of that, the plaintiffs, they allege, "have experienced a loss of sales and rentals."
Again, The Litchfield Company and the rest of the class, are seeking no less than $5 million in damages.
The lawsuits, the lawyers say, can and probably will be amended as the situation in the Gulf of Mexico continues to change.
The following corporations are listed as defendants in all three lawsuits:
BP, P.L.C., BP America, Inc., BP Products North America, Inc., BP Exploration and Production, Inc., Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., Cameron International Corporation f/k/a Cooper Cameron Corporation, Transocean, LTD., Transocean Deepwater, Inc., and Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc.
For more news and multimedia on the Gulf oil disaster, visit our Oil Spill section.
