Plaintiffs in class action lawsuits related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill are challenging the administration of the class settlement and raising questions about whether BP Exploration and Production, Inc. and the claims administrator are making appropriate payouts. Thousands of class members have complained that the settlements being paid are unfair and payments are slow. In addition, class attorney Brent W. Coon alleges that the settlement has failed to compensate many who were harmed by the spill.
Class members for the settlement class in the multi-district litigation who want to file economic and property damage claims must do so by June 8, 2015. However, Mr. Coon is urging his clients to opt out of the class settlement and take their chances with litigating their claims. On April 16, 2015, Mr. Coon filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in the multi-district litigation asking the court to re-notice class members of the settlement and give them a chance to opt out. Mr. Coon’s law firm represents approximately 10,000 plaintiffs in the litigation.
In other news related to the oil spill, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation announced that it had entered into an agreement with the State of Alabama releasing Anadarko from trial over the state’s damages. In exchange, Anadarko has agreed not to contest the amount of compensatory damages awarded under the Oil Pollution Act and general maritime law.
Finally, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier issued a ruling that Lloyd’s of London and other insurance companies had satisfied their obligations under policies issued to Transocean Ltd. to provide excess overage related to the spill. The Transocean policies provided $150 million in coverage. Previously, the court had ruled that BP PLC was not covered as an additional insured on the Transocean policies.
For updates, stay tuned to this blog, or call (504) 599-8500.
No comments:
Post a Comment