[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday denied certiorari [order list, PDF] in an appeal by David Rainey, a former British Petroleum (BP) [company website] executive. Rainey sought to contest the charge of obstruction of justice that arose when he misled Congress about the extent of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon [JURIST backgrounder] oil spill. The charges against Rainey were dismissed by the district court but reinstated in June when the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] in New Orleans declared that the obstruction statute used against Rainey was misinterpreted.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest oil spills in history, and is still being litigated today. As a result of the damage from the spill, BP faced fines and penalties [Reuters report] totaling $4.5 billion and pleaded guilty to criminal charges. BP also faces penalties [JURIST report] under the Clean Water Act [PDF], but those were reduced to $13.7 billion in early January by a federal court. The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Rainey’s case is not unique; another Deepwater Horizon related case was denied [JURIST report] by the court in early December. However, lower courts have taken a stand in deciding the fallout of Deepwater Horizon, and have found that BP bears the majority of the responsibility [JURIST report] for the spill.