A French court ruled that...Total was responsible for the 1999 sinking of the tanker Erika, and ordered it to pay millions of euros in damages for one of France's worst environmental disasters...Rina, the Italian maritime certification company that declared the...vessel seaworthy...[was] also held responsible...The defendants could face hundreds of millions of euros in further damages after the court said environmental organisations could sue them over the ecological impact of the disaster. Total said it was considering an appeal and the firm's lawyers said the ruling was out of kilter with international norms on shipping regulation…Total was [also] accused of…complicity in endangering human life, a charge of which it was found not guilty.