## Facts

- The S.S. *Zoe Colocotroni*, an oil tanker, ran aground on a reef about three and a half miles off Puerto Rico’s south coast on March 18, 1973.
- To refloat the ship, the captain ordered the discharge of more than 5,000 tons of crude oil into surrounding waters.
- The oil formed a large slick that drifted ashore at Bahia Sucia and spread into adjacent coastal and mangrove areas.
- The spill caused extensive mortality among noncommercial marine organisms and damage to mangrove and coastal habitats.
- The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board sued in federal court in admiralty seeking damages for injury to natural resources and related cleanup/restoration costs.
- The district court found defendants liable and awarded more than $6 million, including damages calculated using a replacement-cost method for noncommercial living resources (e.g., hatchery/restocking-type figures).

## Issues

1. Whether the vessel and its owners were liable in admiralty for environmental harm caused by the grounding and the intentional oil discharge to refloat the ship.
2. Whether Puerto Rico, as sovereign/public trustee, could recover damages for injury to noncommercial living natural resources and ecological systems.
3. Whether replacement/restoration cost is a permissible measure of damages for such injuries, and whether the district court’s calculations were sufficiently grounded and reasonable.
4. How federal maritime law interacts with Puerto Rico law in defining recoverable interests and remedies for resource injury.

## Decision

- The First Circuit affirmed liability for the spill and resulting environmental injury.
- The court held Puerto Rico could pursue monetary recovery for damage to noncommercial living natural resources and related ecological harm.
- The court accepted restoration/replacement cost as an available damages measure in principle.
- The court vacated portions of the damages award based on problematic aspects of the district court’s replacement-cost calculations and remanded for recalculation consistent with the appellate standards.
- Certiorari was denied, leaving the First Circuit’s disposition in effect.

## Legal Principles

- A sovereign may sue, in a trustee-like capacity, to recover for injury to noncommercial living natural resources and ecological systems affected by maritime pollution.
- Environmental harm is a cognizable injury in admiralty; recovery is not limited to market-priced losses (e.g., commercial fisheries or property damage).
- Restoration or replacement cost can be used to value injury to natural resources, but only to the extent the amounts reflect realistic, reasonably necessary measures tied to the proven injury.
- Damages must be supported by reliable evidence and must not function as punitive or open-ended monetary substitutes where actual restoration is not reasonably contemplated.
- In admiralty cases, local law may inform the nature of protected interests and remedies when consistent with federal maritime principles.

## Conclusion

The First Circuit recognized Puerto Rico’s right to recover for ecological injury to noncommercial natural resources from a maritime oil spill, while limiting recovery to restoration or replacement costs that are reasonable, evidence-based, and connected to genuine remedial measures.


Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. S.S. Zoe Colocotroni, 628 F.2d 652 (1st Cir. 1980)