Facts

An oil spill occurred in the San Francisco Bay on Nov. 7, 2007, caused when the M/V Cosco Busan struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

San Francisco Bay commercial fishermen whose livelihood were threatened by the oil spill sued the Hong Kong-based owner of the ship Regal Stone Ltd., the Hong Kong-based technical manager of the ship Fleet Management Ltd., the South Korea-based charterer of the ship Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. and the San Francisco-based pilot, John Cota alleging violations of the California state Lemptert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Prevention and Response Act and various other statutory and common law claims.

On Aug. 6, 2009, a commercial herring fisherman subclass was certified by Judge John E. Munter of the San Francisco Superior Court.

Result

A class-wide settlement of the claims of commercial fishermen was reached, providing for $3.65 million in compensation to approximately 120 Bay Area commercial herring, halibut, surfperch, rockfish, live bait, and near offshore fishermen, and commercial sport charter fishing boat operators. The settlement further provides for defendants to separately pay for settlement administration and notice costs, and for class counsel to make a motion to the court for an order requiring defendants to separately pay class counsel attorney fees and reimburse their costs.

Other Information

On September 3, 2010, Judge Samuel Conti of the Northern District of California, in a parallel action, granted final approval of a class-wide settlement worth approximately $200,000, negotiated by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP, and Audet Partners, LLP on behalf of commercial Dungeness crab fisherman. On November 23, 2010, Judge Conti also awarded plaintiffs' counsel attorney fees and costs for approximately $1.3 million in that action.