Jurors Urged to Reject State’s Claims in Oil Spill

State claims of millions of dollars in damage from a 1990 oil spill are based on pure speculation and should be rejected, an attorney told jurors during closing arguments Wednesday.

The real damages totaled $700,000 at most, argued David E.R. Woolley, attorney for Attransco, the company that owns the American Trader oil tanker.

The ship ran over its anchor nearly eight years ago as it was trying to moor at an oil platform a mile off Huntington Beach. The resulting hole in the hull allowed up to 400,000 gallons of crude oil to leak out, fouling 15 miles of beach and coastline and killing at least 1,000 birds. The beaches were closed for five weeks.

While Attransco officials acknowledge that the company, as ship owner, is responsible for the spill, it is contesting the state’s allegation in a lawsuit that upward of $20 million should be paid to the state, county and cities.

“This is the very first time anyone has put this incredible theory of damages forward,” Woolley told the jurors.

Michael Leslie, representing the state, said in his final comments to the jury that Attransco’s attack on the computing methods was a diversionary tactic and that the state’s figures are sound.

Orange County Superior Court Justice William F. McDonald will give instructions this morning to the jury, which then will begin deliberations.