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Cleaning Up Oil Spill Liability Through Commercial Quasi-Property Rights, Troy S. Brown

Troy S Brown

The pure economic loss rule, embodied in Robins Dry Dock v. Flint, has denied many individuals and businesses who commercially use and rely upon oil spill damaged land and resources, because their economic losses were unaccompanied by physical injury. In passing the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the U.S. Congress sought to ameliorate the harshness of the pure economic loss rule by creating §2702(b)(2)(E), a cause of action to recover such economic losses, even in the absence of a recognized proprietary interest in an affected resource. However, the persistence of the pure economic loss rule, the Oil Pollution Act’s vague …