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Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine were the two highest-ranking
supervisors on board the Deepwater Horizon rig when disaster
struck on April 20, 2010, sending millions of barrels of oil
into the Gulf of Mexico.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on
Wednesday dismissed 11 counts of seaman's manslaughter charges
facing Kaluza and Vidrine.
The panel affirmed a district court's 2013 ruling, saying the
men's responsibilities on the rig did not constitute the "marine
operations, maintenance, and navigation" of a ship and so the
federal law did not apply to them.
The indictment accused the men of "negligent and grossly
negligent" supervision of testing at the well in the run up to
the explosion.
BP has sustained more than $42 billion in charges from the
disaster aboard the rig. The company is awaiting a separate
ruling from a New Orleans federal judge, expected some time this
year, over its fines under the U.S. Clean Water Act.
The case is USA v. Robert Kaluza; Donald Vidrine, Case:
14-30122.
(Reporting by Kanika Sikka and Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru;
Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)
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