BP Wins Appeal Over Moving Contamination Suit to Federal Court

A Louisiana federal court is a proper place to hear a ranch’s lawsuit seeking to force BP America Production Co. and BHP Petroleum Americas Inc. to clean up contamination on its property, even in the face of an unsettled state law question, the Fifth Circuit ruled.

Although a risk exists the lower court will have to address the issue under Louisiana conservation law, that “does not on its own justify a federal court’s refusal to hear the case,” according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Abstaining is even less defensible in this case where it’s ...