Puerto Rico Landmark Legal Settlements
PR Sewer Authority Agrees to $1.7 Billion Settlement for Environmental Crimes
In 2006, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) reached a civil and criminal settlement with the federal government for violating the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) by illegally discharging pollutants from nine sanitary waste water treatment plants and five drinking water treatment plants.
Under the plea agreement, PRASA paid a criminal fine of $9 million, the largest fine ever paid by a utility for violating the CWA. In addition, a comprehensive civil settlement was reached between PRASA and the United States of America resolving repeated environmental violations at 61 waste water treatment plants throughout the Commonwealth.
In the civil settlement, the authority agreed to spend an estimated $1.7 billion on capital improvements to all of its 61 waste water treatment plants.
Settlement in Puerto Rican Cabotage Antitrust Litigation
A settlement was reached in a federal antitrust lawsuit brought against ocean shippers who allegedly conspired to fix the costs of shipping goods between the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico. In 2010, the shippers obtained a $13.75 million partial settlement with Crowley Liner Services.
The shippers alleged that for six years, Crowley, along with Horizon Lines, Sea Star Lines and Trailer Bridge, conspired to illegally fix prices for sea transportation between Puerto Rico and the continental United States.
Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire Settlement
In 1989, a federal judge approved a $100 million settlement covering most of the claims from the 1986 fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ninety-seven people died in the New Year's Eve fire, considered the most catastrophic in Puerto Rico’s history.
Under the agreement, $50 million was paid by an insurer, American International Underwriters Corp., $35 million by the so-called Dupont family group of partnerships and individuals, and $15 million by other insurance carriers.
About 2,300 plaintiffs sued for $1.8 billion, which at the time was the largest civil litigation case in U.S. history.
Three hotel employees have pleaded guilty to setting the fire in San Juan after a meeting with a Teamsters' local that was engaged in bitter contract negotiations with the hotel.
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