SUPREME COURT DENIES CERTIORARI ON BP’S SETTLEMENT IN DEEPWATER HORIZON SPILL

By TONI ELLINGTON

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, December 8, 2014, denied BP’s petition for certiorari which challenged BP’s settlement in the 2010 oil spill.  The Supreme Court did not comment or give reasons for the denial.

BP had argued that the lower courts and the claims administrator misinterpreted the settlement agreement, resulting in allegedly bogus claims being approved by claims administrator Patrick Juneau for businesses which were not affected by the oil spill.

BP engaged lobbyists and purchased full page advertisements in major newspapers to air its position. BP stated that it had estimated the settlement would cost the company $7.8 billion, but that settlements to date are $10 billion and could go higher.

As an example of a bogus claim which was authorized to be paid under the settlement, BP pointed to a $3.5 million award to an Alabama excavation company, which experienced a loss of revenue because it sold assets in 2009, not because of the oil spill.  However, lawyers for the class of claimants argued that BP agreed to the settlement and merely had “buyer’s remorse.”  In denying BP’s appeal, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the terms of the settlement “are not as protective of BP’s present concerns as might have been achievable . . . but they are the protections that were accepted by the parties and approved by the district court.”

A BP spokesman said that BP would continue to investigate suspicious and implausible claims and “to fight fraud where it is uncovered.”

For assistance with your company’s BP claim, call (504) 599-8500.