[JURIST] The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana [official website] Friday ruled on motions to dismiss made by British Petroleum (BP) [corporate website] and other defendants in litigation [materials] over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Among other issues, Judge Carl Barbier ruled [order, PDF] that all state law claims in the case are preempted by federal maritime law and should be dismissed, but that the same general maritime law makes punitive damages…