THE US Supreme Court on Monday, Dec. 8 refused to consider a BP case claiming that the company has been forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to claimants who experienced losses unrelated to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
According to the company’s brief to the court, paid claimants include those “whose purported losses were not fairly traceable to the spill … such as lawyers who lost their law licenses and warehouses that burned down before the spill occurred.”
Under the 2012 settlement agreement signed by BP, the company was required to compensate businesses that claimed to have suffered financial losses from the oil spill.
The high court rejected a re-examination of rejections made by lower courts, which said BP had to follow the agreement, one that did not request for the type of proof the company currently seeks.
“This case is about a contract that BP signed but now wishes it hadn’t,” read a brief for the class of claimants. “BP negotiated a comprehensive class settlement to escape liability for the devastation caused by the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Now, however, BP has dev eloped buyer’s remorse and wants out of the agreement.”
To date, BP has paid $2.3 billion out of $4.25 billion to businesses and individuals, according to Patrick Juneau, the court-appointed claims administrator.
The company has argued that Juneau has incorrectly interpreted the settlement, causing it to pay funds toward businesses unable to prove damages related to the disaster.
“The class yokes together many claimants that suffered spill-related losses with numerous others whose alleged losses are entirely unrelated to the spill, thereby awarding damages without any connection to the theory of liability,” Washington attorney Theodore Olson wrote in BP’s brief to the Supreme Court.
Among claims the company cited include an Alabama excavation company that received $3.5 million, despite the fact its loss was related to a selling of its assets in 2009, prior to the spill; a Louisiana nursing facility that was awarded more than $660,000 even though it shut down before the 2010 catastrophe; and a Mississippi hotel that received more than $450,000, although it had been closed for months due to a fire with no connection to the oil spill.
“On behalf of all our stakeholders, we will therefore continue to advocate for the investigation of suspicious or implausible claims and to fight fraud where it is uncovered,” said BP spokesman Geoff Morrell in a statement.
Despite BP’s claim, other audits demonstrate that Juneau’s interpretation of claims received are 99 percent accurate.
“Today’s ruling is a huge victory for the Gulf, and should finally put to rest BP’s two-year attack on its own settlement” said Stephen Herman and James Roy, lead attorneys for the class of affected businesses, in a statement. “With the high court’s rejection of BP’s attempts to rewrite history, Mr. Juneau can get on with the business of processing and paying eligible claims.”
(With reports from Reuters, The Washington Post and USA Today)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek December 10-12, 2014 Sec. A pg.5)
