Deepwater Horizon litigation Deepwater Horizon litigation The civil and criminal proceedings stemming from the explosion of "Deepwater Horizon" and the resulting massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began shortly after the April 20, 2010 incident and have continued since then. They have included an extensive claims settlement process for a guilty plea to criminal charges by BP, and an ongoing Clean Water Act lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and other parties. A federal judge, ruling on the Clean Water Act suit in September 2014, found that BP was primarily responsible for the oil spill as a result of
BP as a section of the company's website where it communicated its efforts to clean up the spill. BP began a re-branding campaign in late 2010, and decided to focus its brand on the idea of "bringing brilliant minds together with technology at a massive scale to meet the world's energy needs", and focus its messaging on telling stories about people. In February 2012 BP North America launched a $500 million branding campaign to rebuild its brand. The company's advertising budget was about $5 million per week during the four-month spill in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling nearly $100 million. In