BP: More claims, more money - Northwest Florida Daily News

September 7, 2012	Objection Deadline
November 1, 2012	Opt Out Deadline
November 8, 2012	Fairness Hearing

As the November 1 class action opt-out deadline approaches Patrick Juneau - administrator of the court-supervised Deepwater Horizon Settlement fund - has to encourage people to file claims, rather than opt out of the class action settlement and continue the court fight.  But the fund's insistence on back-up documentation has delayed pacceptance of claims, increasing frustration.  There are practical questions: can a hotel prove its damages just by comparing this year to last in a year that was bad for business generally?  Few people canceled - most just never planned to come, they report. - GWC
BP: More claims, more money - Local News - Northwest Florida Daily News: by Tom McLaughlin

"PENSACOLA — “Fifty-eight million in free unadulterated dollars is going to hit” Northwest Florida in the near future, BP Claims Administrator Patrick Juneau announced Tuesday.

Juneau told a group of business people and elected officials that the funds will be used to resolve 1,099 of 11,214 claims filed against BP in the “region around Pensacola.”

Juneau, who on June 4 replaced Ken Feinberg as the man in charge of distributing BP dollars to parties suffering economic or property damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also promised more money was on the way.

“There’s going to be millions and millions of dollars,” he predicted during the meeting at Pensacola State College. “What you’re going to see is the number of eligible business claims continue to rise. I think we’ll see many more in the next two weeks.”"...

As of last Thursday, 7,144 claims had been declared eligible, and by Monday more than $422 million was approved for distribution, Juneau said.
Seven thousand remains a far cry from 60,000, Juneau conceded. He said that processing individual claims is being delayed because 90 percent of them don’t include the proper paperwork.
A deadline for parties seeking to opt out of the legal settlement administered by Juneau has been set for Nov. 1.
Jay and Nash Patel, representing 3,000 claims on behalf of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, told Juneau Tuesday that their group was considering the opt-out.
The hotel group is considering initiating legal action of its own, the Patels said.
The association’s frustration lies with the claims processors’ insistence that owners provide documents proving reservation denials or cancellations, they said.
“We don’t have denials and cancelled reservations,” the Patel said, pointing out that hotel losses were borne out during the oil spill by rooms that simply weren’t filled.

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