NEWS ANALYSIS : 3 Years Later, No One Has Taken Blame for Oil Spill : Multimillion-dollar lawsuit that stemmed from incident off Huntington Beach seems destined for jury or judge.

Three years after the American Trader tanker ran aground off Huntington Beach, the four companies involved in the oil spill are no closer to settling a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by government prosecutors.

Back in January, 1991, when the civil suit was filed, the oil and shipping companies as well as the state attorney general seemed eager to negotiate and avoid a long, messy trial. But today, which marks the third anniversary of the oil spill, no resolution is in sight and no settlement offers have been made by any of the defendants.

The four companies are quarreling over who deserves the blame for the accident, and hence who is liable to pay the most damages and fines. Complicating the matter, one of the defendants, Golden West Refining Co., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.

Unless the long stalemate is broken, the case seems destined for a jury or judge.

“I think what’s happened is the four defendants are busy trying to allocate responsibility among themselves,” said state Deputy Atty. Gen. Sylvia Hale, the lead prosecuting attorney, who remains confident that a settlement will be reached. “It becomes a round robin, people pointing fingers at each other.”

The oil spill was the largest in Southern California in more than 20 years.

The American Trader ran over its own anchor as it tried to moor at Orange County’s only tanker terminal, spilling almost 400,000 gallons of Alaskan crude, which fouled 15 miles of beaches and killed at least 1,000 birds. A Coast Guard investigation revealed ocean-depth measurements at the terminal, at least a decade old, were off by 13 feet, leaving too little room for the tanker to clear the ocean floor.

In the lawsuit, the state of California, the cities of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, and Orange County are seeking an unspecified amount of fines, recouped losses and punitive damages, all vaguely estimated “in the millions.”

Named as defendants are BP America Inc., which owned the oil and chartered the tanker; Golden West Refining, a Santa Fe Springs oil company that operates the terminal; Brandenburger Marine Inc., which supplied the mooring master that guided the ship; and American Trading Transportation Co., the tanker’s owner and operator.

At least one attorney involved in the case suggests that it has dragged on too long, and it might have been wise for the attorney general to force a settlement much earlier, when the public was still outraged and the companies were worried about publicity.

“I think the whole thing has been headed to a big boondoggle,” said the attorney, who did not want to be identified. “I don’t see any settlement in sight. The only ones making any money on this are the attorneys for the companies.”

The financially strapped city of Huntington Beach has spent about $150,000 to hire special attorneys for the suit, and on Monday, the council agreed to pay legal expenses of $100,000 per year--with no end in sight.

City Atty. Gail C. Hutton said Huntington Beach originally expected “a $50,000 limit on attorney’s fees” but that amount has “proven unrealistic in light of the prolonged and extreme complexity of the multi-party litigation,” according to a memo to the council.

The case has already dragged on longer than litigation in the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, the largest and most destructive oil spill in U.S. history. Exxon agreed to pay $1 billion to settle government suits in 1991, less than three years after the spill, which was 30 times larger than the one in Huntington Beach.

But Hale said the amount of time spent is not unusual. Major spill cases typically last for several years when so many parties are involved.

Deposing witnesses, which began two months ago, is expected to continue through the end of this year, Hale said.

“We’re conducting a lot of discovery, a lot of depositions. Because of the information coming out, I’m hopeful it will move the defendants to a settlement,” she said.

Chuck Webster, crisis manager for BP, also known as British Petroleum, said his company’s objective is to settle the case without a trial. But he declined to comment on any details.

“BP has had continuing discussions with state and local representatives about their lawsuit. It is our aim to resolve the issues amicably with all the parties and we hope this can be completed sooner rather than later,” Webster said.

Erich Wise, an attorney for Golden West Refining, said settlement talks continue, but “everybody’s waiting to see how the facts proceed” in the depositions before making offers.

In a 1990 report, the Coast Guard blamed the accident on Golden West Refining and Brandenburger Marine for failing to conduct depth surveys and ensure the water at the terminal was deep enough for large tankers. But state law also holds shippers and companies that own oil liable for paying damages and fines for spills.

Golden West, however, says it followed state and federal regulations and is not to blame. After the accident, the Coast Guard enacted new rules that require annual depth surveys and other precautions at tanker terminals.

Documents in the case number in the thousands, and that involves just the facts on how the accident occurred, not the expert witnesses and data on the ecological impact, said Newport Beach Assistant City Atty. Robin Flory.

“In something as complex as this, there’s a lot of significant questions, both legally and factually,” agreed Nicholas Chrisos, deputy counsel for Orange County.

In the suit, the state is seeking pollution fines, reimbursement for harm to marine life and waterfowl, loss of tourism and tax dollars, temporary loss of use of beaches and harbors, and emergency response costs borne by government agencies. They also hope to recoup legal fees.

The fines alone for violating state pollution laws could total millions of dollars. The maximum penalty under California’s water code, the major law that prohibits discharge of oil into state waters, is $25 per gallon spilled, or $10 million for the American Trader accident.

Wise, who represents Golden West Refining, said “the main dispute” between the state and the defendants “is over the actual value of the damage to the environment.”

“The fundamental issue is how successful was the cleanup,” he said, “and it was recognized as a very successful one.”

BP spent $35 million removing foamy oil and tar balls in a five-week cleanup of beaches. It was considered one of the most successful cleanups in history, mainly because calm seas helped crews collect much of the oil and spared sensitive wetlands and tide pools.

The spill’s ecological impact is still largely unknown, since most of the scientific research remains confidential due to the litigation. Only fragments of the data have been revealed.

In 1991, a UC Davis researcher, hired by federal officials, reported that one-third of oil-soaked brown pelicans that had been cleansed and returned to the wild after the spill apparently died, while the rest refused to breed that year.

Another study, by the state Fish and Game Department, showed grunion were unable to spawn in 1990 even along beaches deemed clean. About 39% of grunion eggs at Bolsa Chica State Beach died.

State officials said they plan to use any money gleaned from the suit to compensate Orange County residents for loss of natural resources. Possible uses include purchase of part of the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, reseeding of kelp beds and stocking of abalone.

“I certainly would like to see this over with,” said Linda Moulton-Patterson, who serves on the Huntington Beach City Council and the state Coastal Commission. “There are so many worthwhile environmental areas where we could use the money. But these things take time. The legal wheels turn slowly.”