Landowners Sue Over Oil Pollution Along Bayou Teche

Eight lawsuits have been filed by people seeking damages from an industrial services company that spilled about 12,500 gallons of crude oil last March along and into the Bayou Teche. The suits against Houston-based PSC Industrial Outsourcing originally were filed in April in 16th Judicial District Court in St. Mary Parish, where the spill occurred and where the petitioners own properties. They were transferred this week to U.S. District Court in Lafayette. Julie Lebourgeois and her husband live on property along Chitimacha Trail, a roadway that borders the contaminated area of the Bayou Teche.