The oil company YPF and the Spanish Repsol agreed to pay 575 million dollars to close the trial for the Maxus case, a lawsuit for environmental damages initiated in 2005 by the state of New Jersey (USA:).
“This Thursday, April 6, YPF formalized an agreement with the Maxus Liquidation Trust that, if certain conditions are met, will dismiss all actions filed against YPF and Repsol and will grant a full release and acquittal of the claims filed by said Trust for up to US $14,000 million”, says the statement from the oil company.
The sum of money will be paid in equal parts, so each of the firms promised to pay 287.5 million dollars. It should be remembered that Repsol participates in the agreement since the lawsuit was initiated when the Spanish company was a shareholder of YPF.
As reported by YPF, the Maxus Liquidation Trust “would drop the claims it has filed against YPF and Repsol in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, as well as all current and future claims it may have against YPF and Repsol ”.
“In exchange, YPF and Repsol agree to pay the Trust USD $287.5 million each, for a total of USD $575 million, without YPF or Repsol admitting any liability,” they reported. The legal dispute was almost 20 years old.
The legal story told by YPF
In 1992 YPF was privatized and José Estenssoro took over. Under his management, in 1995, the oil company deployed an international expansion strategy and acquired Maxus, a North American oil and gas company.
Years earlier, in 1986, Maxus had sold its chemical business to Occidental Chemical Corporation and agreed to indemnify it for environmental liabilities derived from its operations.
In 2005, the State of New Jersey sued Occidental and Maxus -later adding YPF and Repsol- for the contamination of the Passaic River (10 km from NY City) with chemical waste.
Consequently, Occidental asserted its indemnity and Maxus, the company that YPF had acquired in 1995, honored its obligations until June 17, 2016, when it made the decision to file for bankruptcy and was subsequently declared bankrupt.
In June 2018 the Maxus Liquidation Trust sued YPF and Repsol and certain subsidiaries, for up to $14 billion in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that Maxus intended to hinder, delay, or defraud its creditors .