Many Claimants Back Out of Proposed BP Oil Spill Settlement

BP estimates it will pay $7.8 billion in a proposed settlement to victims of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Many Gulf Coast claimants, however, are saying the money they may be awarded from the settlement—the maximum for an individual reportedly being $60,700—is simply is not enough to supplement lost wages and cover increasingly high medical bills related to chronic illness and, in some cases, permanent disability caused by the spill.

“The court, BP, and Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee spokespersons admitted that people with serious conditions don’t really fit into the current, class settlement format."

According to a story by The Louisiana Weekly, hundreds of spill victims opted out of BP’s proposed settlement by the November 1^st deadline and have chosen to sue the company directly. BP and the lead plaintiff’s attorneys feel the settlement is more than adequate and a far superior alternative to a lengthy legal battle. At a fairness hearing on November 8^th, however, according to one lawyer, the court recognized those with more serious physical ailments may not be suited for the current class action arrangement.

“The court, BP, and Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee spokespersons admitted that people with serious conditions don’t really fit into the current, class settlement format,” one opted-out victim’s lawyer said. “They would have had to opt out of the settlement to fund adequate compensation through litigation.”

A total of 25,866 exclusion requests were filed, of which 13,123 were approved by the court. Shortly after, BP’s attorneys and representation for the lead plaintiffs happy with the amount of the potential settlement claimed many of the submitted opt-out forms are legally unacceptable.

Legal counsel for both sides say almost half of the requests were found invalid for failing to comply with the court’s opt-out requirements. For example, more than 9,000 opt-out forms were deemed unacceptable because an attorney, not a claimant, signed off on the request. Some signatures, BP and plaintiffs’ counsel said, were handwritten, while others were signed with a rubber stamped signature. Additionally, according to BP and plaintiff attorneys, roughly 8,000 opt-out requests submitted by a Texas law firm were devoid of any client signature at all. These discrepancies led attorneys to believe some opt-outs were submitted without “due consideration to each submission and each client’s facts, circumstances, and interests.”

On the whole, BP and the plaintiffs’ attorneys feel the number of opt-outs and formal objections to the proposed settlement make up just a tiny population of the total number of claimants ultimately satisfied with the proposed monetary amount.

On November 15^th, BP agreed to pay a $4.5 billion settlement as punishment for federal criminal charges resulting from 11 deaths caused by the spill.