Accord Reached Settling Lawsuit Over BP Oil Spill

[boutons_deux]

The company estimated that paying the claims would cost $7.8 billion — but it did not state that the estimate represented an upper limit on what it would pay. It said it had already paid out more than $8 billion to claimants, and had spent some $14 billion in responding to the spill.

“This settlement will provide a full measure of compensation to hundreds of thousands — in a transparent and expeditious manner under rigorous judicial oversight.”

The agreement does not include the biggest plaintiff in the BP case: the federal government. Nor does it include the state and local governments along the coast, which are also suing. The federal government stands to recover billions of dollars in environmental fines, but the extent to which the Justice Department is involved in negotiations with BP is unclear.

David M. Uhlmann, who headed the Justice Department’s environmental crimes section from 2000 to 2007, said, “The plaintiffs’ steering committee really needs to reach a settlement with BP” because otherwise it could face years of litigation and might obtain less at trial than it could receive in a settlement. (to expected from a Repug lawyer)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/us...-spill.html?hp

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BP surges back into profits, as US criminal trial looms

BP returned to profit with a bang last year, posting net earnings of $23.9 billion on Tuesday, as the British energy giant prepared for a criminal trial over the US Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
BP announced adjusted profit after tax equivalent to 18.2 billion euros for 2011, as higher oil prices offset a drop in production, according to a group statement.
The London-listed energy major also signalled its recovery by hiking its shareholder dividend for the first time since the devastating April 2010 spillage that ravaged the company's fortunes.
BP had suffered a net loss of $4.9 billion in 2010 after an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers, sent millions of barrels of oil spewing into the sea and left it with huge compensation costs.

Including changes in the value of BP's energy inventories, net profit hit $25.7 billion in 2011, the group added Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/bp-bounces-bac...081015322.html

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BP settles spill claims for $7.8 billion. Will victims take it?

People waiting for money from Feinberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility can take what the settlement vehicles offer them or opt out and make a claim directly to a BP-run en y. If they don't like what they get from that en y, they can sue.

And many just might.

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday's settlement is not the end of the road.

"The United States will continue to work closely with all five Gulf states to ensure that any resolution of the federal law enforcement and damage claims, including natural resources damages, arising out of this unprecedented environmental disaster is just, fair and restores the Gulf for the benefit of the people of the Gulf states," the agency said in a statement.

BP's payout estimate includes what the company internally predicts legal fees for the numerous plaintiffs lawyers in the case will be, though the issue has not yet been discussed between the two sides, according to a person with direct knowledge of the settlement terms who spoke on condition of anonymity because those details are confidential.

That could be a deal-breaker for people who have spent nearly two years trying to get money directly from BP or through the Feinberg-run fund that took over the claims process in August 2010, four months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Many have been pursuing their claims without a lawyer and therefore have not had to pay such fees. They also could balk at the idea of potentially having to start their entire claims process over again, or at least the prospect of delaying the compensation they desperately need.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/La...=Google+Reader

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BP's huge advantage vs Human-Americans is that BP can out-lawyer any individual lawyering, knowing the extreme-pro-business SCOTUS will prevent a class-action suit by denying all BPs' victims "commonality".