Supreme Court Can End Fraudulent Payouts In Deepwater Horizon Spill Case - Investors.com

"Tort reform" has for three decades been a rallying cry by conservatives.  Many are now rallying behind BP's attack on the terms and administration of the settlement they negotiated with Gulf Coast businesses, property owners, and others.  BP's attack on the settlement structure as permitting unproven claims is the subject o a petition for certification before the United States Supreme Court.  BP has won the support not only of business groups and the usual suspects, but of its pre-class settlement administrator Kenneth Feinberg, the King of Mass Settlements, who filed a brief in support of BP..

BP's attack on Patrick Juneau, the Claims Administrator it agreed to hire, alleges he failed to disclose pre-appointment advocacy for the State of Louisiana which sought broad recoveries for its citizens.  Juneau responded that he dealt directly with BP and its attorney/agent Feinberg but the company claims it did not actually know of the extent of his work for the State. - gwc



Supreme Court Can End Fraudulent Payouts In Deepwater Horizon Spill Case - Investors.com:

On the Right

by Boyden Gray

Investors Business Daily Columnist



 "In the years since 2010's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, energy firm BP has seen its public image suffer, and rightly so. The explosion took the lives of 11 rig workers, injured many more, and did enormous economic and environmental harm to the Gulf Coast region.

To its credit, BP has shown an enormous commitment to repairing the damage caused by the spill. In the weeks following the incident, the company moved quickly to set up a fund to compensate businesses affected by the disaster.

Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who had handled compensation paid to victims of 9/11, was retained to pay claims, and he distributed the money to those who could demonstrate that the spill had harmed them. Sidestepping a prolonged litigation process in this way allowed the company to deliver relief to local victims quickly and efficiently.

In just 16 months, Feinberg had distributed $6.3 billion to roughly 200,000 claimants.

But bypassing the litigation process also ignored one class of self-entitled claimants — "

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