France's highest court may annul a verdict against oil giant Total over a disastrous 1999 oil spill off Brittany, a legal source with access to the documents in the case told Reuters on Friday, Reuters reports. The public prosecutor will recommend the annulment to the Cour de Cassation - the country's top appeals court, which is due to rule on May 24 on Total's appeal - on the grounds that the tanker at the origin of the spill did not sink in French waters, the source said, confirming reports by French newspapers Liberation and Ouest-France.
Total, which is currently trying to stop a major gas leak at its North Sea Elgin gas platform off Scotland, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Total was found guilty in 2008 for the damage caused when the Erika, a 24-year old oil tanker it had chartered, broke apart and sank in a winter storm off Brittany in 1999, spilling 22,046 tons of crude oil.
The initial ruling ordered Total to pay 192 million euros in damages to environmental groups, local governments and others involved in the clean-up operation. In 2010, an appeals court raised the sum to 200 million euros (250.8 million dollars).
Under France's legal system, the prosecutor makes recommendations to the court based on arguments made by the parties in the case.
Corinne Lepage, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who sought the civil judgment, told RTL radio on Friday she hoped that the Cour de Cassation would not follow the prosecutor's recommendations.
"This would mean that no-one would be held responsible while French coasts were soiled," she said.
She added that it would be "a judicial catastrophe" if the court were to rule in favor of Total.
"This would mean that charters like Total, out of pure greed, could continue to hire completely decrepit ships as the Erika was and pollute the coasts with impunity," she said.
Total, which is currently trying to stop a major gas leak at its North Sea Elgin gas platform off Scotland, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Total was found guilty in 2008 for the damage caused when the Erika, a 24-year old oil tanker it had chartered, broke apart and sank in a winter storm off Brittany in 1999, spilling 22,046 tons of crude oil.
The initial ruling ordered Total to pay 192 million euros in damages to environmental groups, local governments and others involved in the clean-up operation. In 2010, an appeals court raised the sum to 200 million euros (250.8 million dollars).
Under France's legal system, the prosecutor makes recommendations to the court based on arguments made by the parties in the case.
Corinne Lepage, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who sought the civil judgment, told RTL radio on Friday she hoped that the Cour de Cassation would not follow the prosecutor's recommendations.
"This would mean that no-one would be held responsible while French coasts were soiled," she said.
She added that it would be "a judicial catastrophe" if the court were to rule in favor of Total.
"This would mean that charters like Total, out of pure greed, could continue to hire completely decrepit ships as the Erika was and pollute the coasts with impunity," she said.