The February 2026 LOOP oil spill off Port Fourchon did not end when the cameras left. Months later, shrimpers working Barataria Bay, crabbers pulling traps in St. Bernard Parish, and oyster harvesters along the central Louisiana coast are still finding oily gear and watching their catch numbers fall. I have been representing Louisiana’s commercial fishing community from my office on Grinage Street in Houma for more than thirty years. If your livelihood has been hurt by this spill, you have legal rights worth understanding — and a clock that is already running.
A group of South Louisiana attorneys has filed a class action against the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port Company (LOOP) on behalf of hundreds of commercial fishermen. That lawsuit deserves attention. But a class action is not automatically the right vehicle for every fisherman. Whether you join the class, file your own individual claim, or pursue both tracks depends on the specific losses you have suffered and the documentation you can put together. That decision is worth making with a lawyer who knows this coast — not by default.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was passed after the Exxon Valdez disaster and created a direct pathway for commercial fishermen to recover economic losses from a responsible party — without proving criminal negligence. Under OPA90, recoverable damages include:
OPA90 does not require physical injury to your body — it is a pure economic-damage statute for people whose work depends on clean water and healthy fisheries. There is also a critical procedural step: the National Pollution Funds Center claim guidance requires you to formally present your claim to the responsible party before filing suit. Missing that step can seriously compromise your case. Our commercial fishing claims practice manages that presentation process from the start.
Class actions can be enormously valuable when losses across a large group are similar and modest. They spread litigation costs and bring the responsible party to the table. But they come with trade-offs. Class counsel makes decisions on behalf of the entire group, and your individual recovery is typically determined by a formula — not by a detailed accounting of your specific losses. If you had a strong catch history, recently invested in new gear, or held buyer contracts that collapsed, those facts may get averaged out in a class settlement.
An individual OPA90 claim is built around your records. It demands more from you in documentation, but for fishermen with substantial, well-documented losses, it often produces a meaningfully different result. In some situations you can also preserve the option to opt out of a class settlement if the class-wide recovery falls short — but timing and procedure are critical. This is exactly the analysis our maritime injury law team handles. As a Houma maritime lawyer who has worked individual fishing claims and class proceedings over three decades, I have seen firsthand how the choice of track shapes the final outcome.
Regardless of which track you pursue, your case is only as strong as your records. Start gathering and preserving documentation today:
NOAA’s spill response and damage assessment division is conducting its own fishery injury evaluation. Those findings will matter to the broader litigation, but they will not substitute for your personal records. Your individual history is what your individual claim is built on.
OPA90 requires you to formally present a written claim to the responsible party and give them ninety days to respond before you can file a lawsuit. If they deny the claim, offer inadequate compensation, or fail to act within that window, litigation can proceed. Skip this step and your claim can be seriously compromised regardless of how strong your underlying losses are.
Beyond the presentation requirement, OPA90 carries a three-year statute of limitations running from when the loss was discovered — or reasonably should have been. With contamination still being reported in fishing grounds today, the discovery date may vary by fisherman, but do not assume you have years to spare. The safest position is to begin the claims process now while evidence is fresh and all options remain open. Insurance adjusters and responsible-party representatives are already working. Class counsel is moving on its own timeline. The sooner you have your own advocate evaluating your situation, the more control you retain.
I have practiced at 306 Grinage Street in Houma for more than thirty years. I know the docks, the processors, the lease holders, and the families that have worked these waters for generations. When you call, you are talking to a lawyer who has been here through every major spill and fisheries crisis this coast has seen — not a call center routing your case to someone unfamiliar with Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.
If you are a shrimper, crabber, oyster harvester, or charter operator whose business has been hurt by the LOOP spill, call Kopfler & Hermann at (985) 851-3311 or schedule a free case review online. We will talk through your records, your losses, and what track makes the most sense for your situation — at no cost and no obligation. Do not let another season pass without knowing where you stand.
