Sen. Schumer calls for repeal of law limiting liability of company that owned sunken oil rig

Sen. Schumer calls for repeal of liability limits

NEW YORK — U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says he will introduce a bill to repeal a law that could allow the owner of the oil drilling rig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico to limit its liability for the disaster to $27 million.

Schumer called it “outrageous” that the company could “get away with paying mere pennies of the total cost of clean-up” of the massive oil spill in the Gulf.

Schumer says he will introduce the legislation Tuesday.

Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, requested the limit in federal court under the 1851 Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability Act.

The company, based in Switzerland, says it requested the limit to have all the lawsuits filed against it aggregated in one court. Transocean has argued the limit will not affect any claims related to cleanup costs.