Enbridge Settles Kalamazoo River Oil Spill Class Action Lawsuit

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According to court documents filed on Dec. 5, the plaintiffs and defendant Enbridge Energy Partners LP agreed to settle a class action lawsuit accusing the company of failing to address a leak that contaminated the property of residents in Michigan.

According to the proposed class action settlement, Canadian energy company Enbridge will pay $2.2 million to residents and property owners within 1000 feet of a river contaminated by the 2010 oil spill. “Based on their evaluation, Interim Lead Class Counsel have concluded that the terms and conditions of this Settlement Agreement are fair, reasonable, and adequate to the Class Members, and that it is in the best interests of the Class Members to settle the claims raised in the Lawsuit pursuant to the terms of this Settlement Agreement,” oil spill settlement documents say.

The plaintiffs allege that a 40-year-old pipeline owned by Enbridge leaked heavy crude oil when it ruptured in 2010. The chemicals leaked into a Michigan river and onto the property of the residents, according to the oil spill class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs argued further that Enbridge failed to address the leak for 17 hours because alarms that went off for the leak were not recognized as a line break. Plaintiffs claimed over 800,000 gallons of oil leaked into the Kalamazoo River and Talmage Creek with clean up costs estimated at $1.6 billion. According to court documents, the Kalamazoo Pipeline Spill will be one of the most expensive onshore oil spills to occur in the United States.

Enbridge has also agreed to pay $1.5 million to reimburse property owners for spill-related expenses in addition to the $2.2 million it will pay directly. According to the proposed class action settlement, the $1.5 million will be distributed by claims administrator Rust Consultants. Local conservation groups will receive $150,000. In total, Enbridge has agreed to pay $6.8 to settle the oil spill class action lawsuit.

“This Settlement Agreement shall not constitute an admission on behalf of Defendants of any form of liability or of the accuracy of any allegation made by the Class Representatives or their counsel,” says the proposed class action settlement agreement. “Defendants believe that their defenses asserted in the Lawsuit have merit and they would have ultimately been successful in defeating class certification … and in defeating the Class Representatives’ claims at summary judgment,” the document continues.

Enbridge also recently agreed to settle another legal action brought by a real estate developer against the company related to the spill in October. Currently, the terms of that proposed oil spill settlement are sealed. The developer had planned to develop 420 acres of land in Marshall, Mich. into a community vineyard dubbed the Zinnyard, where owners of subdivided lots could grow grapes and make wine. The real estate developer was forced to abandon the vineyard plan after the 2010 oil spill.

The plaintiffs in the class action are represented by David H. Fink of Fink + Associates Law and Elizabeth Thomson of Hertz Schram.

The Enbridge Kalamazoo River Oil Spill Class Action is Holder, et al., v. Enbridge Energy Ltd., Case No. 1:10-cv-00752, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.