33 U.S.C. § 2708
Section 2708 · Recovery by responsible party
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case United States v. Citgo Asphalt Refining Co. (2013)
Most recently applied in Savage Services Corporation v. United States (February 2022)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The responsible party for a vessel or facility from which oil is discharged, or which poses the substantial threat of a discharge of oil, may assert a claim for removal costs and damages under section 2713 of this title only if the responsible party demonstrates that—
(1) the responsible party is entitled to a defense to liability under section 2703 of this title; or
(2) the responsible party is entitled to a limitation of liability under section 2704 of this title.
A responsible party who is entitled to a limitation of liability may assert a claim under section 2713 of this title only to the extent that the sum of the removal costs and damages incurred by the responsible party plus the amounts paid by the responsible party, or by the guarantor on behalf of the responsible party, for claims asserted under section 2713 of this title exceeds the amount to which the total of the liability under section 2702 of this title and removal costs and damages incurred by, or on behalf of, the responsible party is limited under section 2704 of this title.