BP Oil Spill Trial To Begin Monday

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It's been nearly two years since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, but the legal battle over the spill is just beginning. On Monday, a trial begins in Louisiana federal court to determine civil liability for the April 2010 oil spill, the worst in U.S. history. Among the defendants are BP, the well operator and majority shareholder in the venture, rig-owner Transocean, construction contractor Halliburton and other firms associated with the project.

Among the thousands of plaintiffs are fishermen, hotel owners and other Gulf Coast residents.

The final payouts that BP and the other firms involved will owe in civil penalties and to the victims are still largely an open question. BP could end up paying roughly $17 billion in civil penalties alone, to go along with the tens of billions more that it will likely owe the victims, said Edward Sherman, a professor at Tulane Law School in Louisiana.

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