Washington: Victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill won't be able to sue any of the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster once they accept a final payment from BP's $20 billion compensation fund.
Kenneth Feinberg, the Washington attorney administering the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, released an outline Wednesday of how such final claims will be judged. The guidelines extend the liability waiver beyond BP to companies such as Transocean, which owned the rig that exploded in April, and Anadarko Petroleum and Moex Offshore, part owners of the well that ruptured.
Feinberg, whose handling of emergency claims has drawn criticism from residents and officials along the Gulf Coast, predicted that a "substantial number" of claimants would waive their legal rights and accept final payment as the Gulf recovers from the biggest US offshore oil spill.
"Ninety-nine per cent of the fishing grounds are open," Feinberg said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "There is shrimping. There is oystering. The tourism hopefully is returning. And people may very well decide, ‘We'll take the lump-sum payment rather than come back again and again and have to document past damage.'"
While Wednesday was the deadline for filing claims for emergency payments, individuals and businesses can still apply for interim payments every three months and retain their right to pursue a final remedy in court.
Compensation fund
Only when accepting lump-sum payments from the compensation fund do they give up the option of suing BP and its partners and contractors. Requests for final payments must be filed within three years.
"You can come back to the fund as many times as you want and wait until you decide you want to file for a lump-sum final payment, if you ever want to do it at all," Feinberg said.
The rules released Wed-nesday establish an appeals process for both claimants and BP.
The London-based oil company can appeal to a three-person panel claims approved by Feinberg if the award is in excess of $500,000. Most payments would be for less, Feinberg said.
"The great bulk of the claims — 98, 95 per cent of them — BP has no right under the law or under my facility to challenge those claims," he said.
Feinberg will choose the appeals panel from names selected by a "disting-uished member of the legal profession," according to the guidelines.
Spill victims who receive compensation in excess of $250,000 and who believe the total is inadequate also can appeal to the three-judge panel.
Separately, anyone seeking aid can appeal Feinberg's decision, first to the US Coast Guard and then in court. Only in accepting a final-lump sum payment do claimants waive their legal rights to additional compensation.
