Court Finds Maker of Dispersant Used in Gulf Oil Spill Immune From Personal Injury Claims

NEW ORLEANS — The federal judge considering consolidated lawsuits arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill has ruled that an Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) subsidiary that supplied responders with the chemical dispersant Corexit is immune from personal injury claims related to its use.

Judge Carl J. Barbier of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled Nov. 28 that any state law or general maritime claims asserted against Nalco Co. and affiliates in the MDL’s “B3Master Complaint” are preempted by the federal Clean Water Act and the National Contingency Plan.

The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the multidistrict …