"Catastrophic blunder"
City sues Cosco Busan operators and owners

By Julia Cheever

December 12, 2007

The city of San Francisco filed suit today seeking potentially millions of dollars from the owners and operators of the ship that spilled 58,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay last month.

The lawsuit describing the Nov. 7 spill from the Cosco Busan as a "catastrophic blunder" was filed in San Francisco Superior Court by City Attorney Dennis Herrera.

The spill occurred when the container ship hit a protective fender of a tower of the Bay Bridge as it sailed out of the Port of Oakland, bound for South Korea.

Herrera, a former maritime lawyer, said, "This was a wholly avoidable incident that has caused more injury to the San Francisco Bay Area than we can yet begin to fathom."

At least four other lawsuits have been filed against the ship's owners and operators.

Fishermen and fishing boat owners have filed two lawsuits in Superior Court and one in federal court for damage to their livelihood, while the U.S. government has sued in federal court over harm to navigable waters and federal beaches and marine sanctuaries.

Herrera's lawsuit seeks compensation for the city's response and cleanup costs, damage to city waterfront and loss of revenue from fees and rents for use of city marinas, wharves and piers. Herrera said the amount could be millions of dollars.

The suit also seeks civil fines, which could range from $25,000 to $500,000 per day for each day of violation of a state oil spill law.

Defendants include the ship's owner, Regal Stone Ltd. of Hong Kong; the company that leased it, Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. of South Korea; and ship operators Fleet Management Ltd. and Synergy Maritime Ltd.

Also named in the lawsuit is pilot John Cota, 59, of Petaluma, who was piloting the ship when it hit the bridge fender. Cota has been suspended by a state board of pilot commissioners while the board pursues misconduct charges.

Regal Stone spokesman Mike Hanson said, "We're participating in all the investigations, but we're not commenting on any of the lawsuits out of respect for the process."

The city's lawsuit is based on the state's Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act, which makes responsible parties, including ship owners and operators, "absolutely liable" for oil spills regardless of blame and also establishes civil penalties for spills.

The lawsuit also includes state law claims of negligence, nuisance, trespass and unlawful business practices.

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