Jury awards $40M to offshore oil well owner in ‘message’ to insurer

Judge Michael Gomez, Zavitsanos said the jury was clearly put off by the insurer’s arguments that the claim was for parts of the drilling platform — whose coverage had already been exhausted — rather than for parts of the well itself. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Nearly 12 years after Hurricane Rita ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, a Texas jury last week ordered an insurer to pay over $41 million to an oil company that lost an offshore oil-drilling platform and well, including $28 million in punitive damages and more than $1.6 million in attorney fees.

The six-week trial revolved around claims by Houston-based equity firm Prime Natural Resources that the well’s insurer, Lloyd’s of London, improperly refused to reimburse some of the expenses it incurred to repair and replace it.