Bouchard class action settlement gets preliminary approval

A federal judge has given a preliminary stamp of approval to an $11.45 million settlement in a class action against Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc. over a 2003 oil spill that damaged 90 miles of shoreline property around Massachusetts' Buzzards Bay. Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Tuesday signed off on the parties' proposed order of preliminary approval of a stipulated settlement