ELR Citation: ELR 20061
No(s). 04-31069 (5th Cir. Mar 23, 2006)

The court dismisses business owners' general maritime law, Oil Pollution Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and state-law claims against a barge that ran into a bridge in Louisiana. The cargo on the barge—a gaseous mixture of propylene/propane—discharged into the air as a result of the collision. The state, therefore, ordered a mandatory evacuation of all businesses and residences within a certain radius of the bridge. The businesses' claims were for economic losses resulting from the evacuation. But claimants who suffer no physical damage to a propriety interest may not recover for purely economic losses, and so the claims were dismissed.