Plaintiffs looking to affix oil-spill responsibility can reach very different conclusions about how long to keep up the fight, especially when a settlement opportunity arises. Such is the case in Argentina, where a municipality on the banks of the River Plate has dropped a long-running suit it filed against Royal Dutch Shell in the wake of one of the country’s biggest oil spills. A residents’ group, meanwhile, vows to continue its own litigation to hold Shell responsible, more than a decade since the slick washed ashore. The litigation was prompted by the Jan. 15, 1999 collision of a German-flagged container vessel making its way down the River Plate and a Shell tanker, Estrella Pampeana, which was transporting crude oil from Patagonia to... [Log in to read more]