Amplify Energy hit with first class action over Calif. oil spill - Reuters

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A warning sign is posted for people to stay out of the water after a major oil spill off the coast of California came ashore in Huntington Beach, California, U.S., October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake

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• Disk jockey named as plaintiff claims he'll lose business because of beach closure
• Proposed class includes people and businesses harmed by incident

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NEW YORK, Oct 5 (Reuters) - A Texas oil and natural gas company is facing what may be the first proposed class action over a weekend oil spill that's estimated to have dumped more than 100,000 gallons of oil into waters off the coast of southern California.

Plaintiff Peter Moses Gutierrez Jr., a disc jockey whose company regularly performs at Huntington Beach, which bore the brunt of the spill, accuses Houston-based Amplify Energy Corporation and its Beta Operating Company subsidiary of creating a private nuisance by failing to safely operate the oil rig connected with the accident. His complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Monday.

Houston-based Amplify Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company has said it is trying to confirm the spill's source with a remotely operated vehicle. The spill was first reported Saturday.

Greg Coleman, a lawyer for Gutierrez at Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, said in a statement that he hoped the lawsuit would help coastal communities recover the spill, which released an estimated 126,000 gallons of oil. Class action firm Milberg said it believes the case is the first federal lawsuit stemming from the spill.

"The corporations that run oil rigs and pipelines assume the

risk of oil spills when they undertake the responsibility required to run those entities," the complaint says. "When

that responsibility is breached by the defendants, as here, the consequences can be catastrophic."

The oil has spread into an oil slick covering about 13 square miles of the Pacific Ocean, leaving fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated. It stretched from the Huntington Beach Pier down to Newport Beach, an area popular with surfers and sunbathers.

Monday's proposed class action says that Gutierrez, who performs regularly on the Huntington Beach beachfront, will "lose a substantial amount of his (disc jockey) business" due to the beach's closure.

The beach has been closed "until further notice" because of the spill, Huntington Beach has said. The lawsuit, citing local media reports, says it could remain shut for a few months.

The lawsuit seeks punitive and other damages on behalf of a proposed class of all persons and businesses harmed by the rig's breach.

(This story was updated with additional detail about the lawsuit.)

The case is Peter Moses Gutierrez Jr., U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 8:21-cv-0162.

For Peter Moses Gutierrez Jr.: Alex Straus of Milberg

Read more:

'Catastrophic' California oil spill kills fish, damages wetlands

Reporting by Sebastien Malo @sebastienmalo

Sebastien Malo

Sebastien Malo reporters on environmental, climate and energy litigation. Reach him at sebastien.malo@thomsonreuters.com

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