A federal court of appeals has ruled BP is not entitled to pay the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for any damages related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The Bucs believed they suffered a significant drop in revenue following the incident, according to their accountant. The organization sought out $19.5 million in damages from the multinational oil and gas company, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided to uphold a decision that ruled in BP's favor.
The 2010 rig explosion was the worst offshore oil spill in United States history. It killed 11 workers and leaked millions of oil barrels into the ocean, devastating the shoreline of several states. Because the team's stadium is located 360 miles southeast of the spill site, Tampa Bay thinks the accident scared fans from coming to their games. The team had to prove that their revenue from May-June 2010 was at least 10 percent lower than it was in other years, but the profits didn't show a significant difference during this time frame.
This is the latest decision in a string of legal issues stemming from the incident. While in 2015, the BP was forced to pay $18.7 billion in penalties to the states federal government and five states affected by the spill. The year after, the company agreed to pay $175 million to shareholders who filed a class action lawsuit against the company.
