James J. Oppen, Arthur J. Luck and Glenn A. Henry v. Aetna Insurance Co., Union Oil Co. Of Calif.

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal we must decide whether plaintiffs may recover certain damages caused by the Santa Barbara oil spill disaster of 1969. Preliminary questions are whether general maritime law applies to plaintiffs’ claims and, if so, whether the application of maritime law precludes the plaintiffs from recovering under state law. A panel of three special masters 1 took the evidence by stipulation and concluded that the claims involved should be determined by reference to maritime law, that the maritime remedy was exclusive, and that under maritime law plaintiffs’…