A Study On The Civil Parties Of Private Damage Compensation In Oil Spill Accidents

The Bohai oil spill compensation dispute has been resolved by amediate agreement under the lead of Ministry of Agriculture. But theproblem caused by this accident has not been completely solved, especiallyfor the private victims. There are still many fishermen and seafoodfarmers who have not obtain indemnity. In addition, there is no answerabout how to distribute the compensation.In general, there are rarely researches about the private damagecompensation in oil spill accidents. In order to regulate the compensationissue of private victims, we need to solve three foundational problemsas follows:First, we should clarify the procedure requirement when the privatevictims file a lawsuit. Such as the investigate standard in the lawsuitand the testify duties of the victims. Second, we should confirm thestandards about how to identify the private parties who have the rightto obtain the compensation. Because it is not always all the victims canobtain losses caused by the oil spill pollution damage, it should bedepended on the types of the losses and the regulations of relevant laws. Third, we should find the responsible party who should be liable for theprivate damage caused by the oil spill accident. This article talks aboutthese three issues and puts forward some advice about how to solve thesethree issues.First of all, this article concentrates on the dilemma when theprivate parties file a lawsuit in Bohai oil spill case. I analysis theplaintiff qualification of victims during the stage of filing the lawsuitand find that the requirements of filing a lawsuit in civil procedure lawdo not fit in oil spill pollution damage lawsuit and the court alwaysmixture the testify duties in different stages of the lawsuit. In addition,the law should makes clearly about the preliminary testify duty of theplaintiffs.Secondly, this article analysis the identification of privateclaimants in oil spill pollution damage. Mainly discuss what kinds ofclaimants have the right to demand the damages or the entities who canfile a lawsuit on behalf of the claimants. What’s more, by taking exampleof the cases and judicial practice of foreign counties can helpclarifying the application of responsibility constitute factors in oilspill private damage compensation.After clarifying the private claimants who can demand the damagescaused by the oil spill pollution, we should find the person who shouldbe liable for the damages, which is called responsible party in laws andregulations. This part based on clarifying the responsible party in Bohaioil spill accidents. But in modern Chinese law system, there remain somedifficulties in finding the responsible party. In addition, there aredifferent responsible parties in different laws and regulations. So weneed combine the specific circumstance and the legal principle to makesure the scope of responsible party in oil spill private damagecompensation. Lastly, it is important to make some proposals about how to regulatethe civil parties for private damage compensation in oil spill accidentson the perspective of optimizing the laws and regulations. Such as therequirements of filing a lawsuit,the standards about how to identify theclaimant and responsible party.