Decision ID: 001471
In October 2003 the 1971 Fund Administrative Council recalled that the 1971 Fund had appealed against a judgement by the first instance Court, which had awarded compensation to claimants engaged in caged fish culture and shellfish culture for mortality of fish and shellfish allegedly caused by the oil and/or the dispersant used to treat the oil. It was noted that following a preliminary hearing at which the judge in charge of the appeal had indicated that he was not inclined to accept the Fund’s arguments, the Fund submitted further scientific evidence showing that the mortality was unlikely to have been caused by the oil. It was noted that at a subsequent hearing the Fund had proposed that in recognition of the fact that the caged fish farms and shellfish culture farms in question had been more severely oiled than others, the owners of the caged fish farms should receive additional cleaning costs and that they and the owners of the shellfish culture farms should be allowed extra business interruption costs. It was noted that in May 2003 the Appellate Court had issued a Settlement Recommendation Decision based on the Fund’s proposals, which did not admit the mortality of fish and shellfish and that the claimants did not lodge an appeal.