Though thankfully infrequent, if you live, work, own a business or govern in an area adjacent to commercial shipping traffic or oil and gas production, you never know when an oil or other spill can strike, instantly fouling our state and local waters and inflicting damage on public, private and natural resources.  The harm from a serious spill can last for many years and the images of oil covered birds and animals will never leave our memories.  However, Federal, State and even local marine pollution laws not only provide for the recovery of many types of spill related damages, but require that vessel operators posses evidence of significant financial resources to respond to such spills before they ever enter our precious waters.

The marine pollution lawyers at Banning Micklow & Bull have decades of experience in the marine pollution area and we are one of the few maritime plaintiff's counsel with firsthand experience representing shipping interests and the insurers who provide marine insurance coverage for oil spill damages.  Although we no longer represent such entities, we know marine and tank vessel operations, spill response and ship owner obligations and liabilities from top to bottom, stem to stern.  San Francisco based partner Edward M. Bull III, for example,  has not only been to sea aboard oil tankers, he currently is an adjunct professor of law at the University of San Francisco School of Law where he teaches maritime law, including marine pollution law.

If you own a water front business, are involved in commercial fishing or aquaculture, are a state or municipality, a marina operator or are anyone who has suffered harm or has incurred damages as the result of an oil or other marine spill or discharge, you need experienced maritime counsel to determine if you can recover for damage to your business, your loss of earnings, your clean-up costs, for damage to your natural resources or otherwise.   The shipping companies and the polluters have highly trained and skilled maritime counsel to protect them from spill related claims and you need to make sure you, your stock holders or your constituents, do too.