Rachel Moran, dean of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, has announced plans to step down as soon as her replacement can be found. She offered no reason for declining to seek a second term in an Aug. 29 email to law school faculty and staff. She was the first Latina dean of a top-20 law school, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
BP MOSTLY TO BLAME
A federal judge on Sept. 4 ruled that BP PLC bore 60 percent of the blame for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 men and led to a massive oil spill. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled that co-defendants Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. had been negligent, but that “the conduct of BP’s employees was egregious enough that exemplary or punitive damages would be appropriate. However, in light of Fifth Circuit precedent, the court concludes that BP is not liable for punitive damages.”
