Justice Department negotiated with BP Monday making sure the $ 20 billion BP oil spill fund was available. BP deposited $ 3 billion into the fund that will compensate victims of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010. Obama and BP had a meeting on June 16 which is when BP decided the fund needed to be set up. There have been $ 319 million paid for claims already, and BP says its bill has hit $ 6.1 billion total right now. But more than 100,000 individuals are still waiting to hear about their claims. All of the lawyers are confused as to how they can access the fund.
BP fund for oil spill better than thought
By the time September is over, BP is intended to have the deposit put into the BP oil spill fund. BP is showing a strong commitment to “making it right within the gulf” by getting ahead of schedule on the deposits, as outlined by Bloomberg who spoke with Robert Dudley who will replace on October 1, Tony Hayward. Obama explained with this announcement in June that any person who feels wronged may sue the company on their own, and BP has to take care of economic damage and cleanup costs still. BP agreed to pay $ 5 billion into the oil spill fund in each of the next four years. To reach the $ 20 billion that BP has promised, there may also be $ 1.25 billion put in every quarter with an added $ 2 billion within the last quarter of every year.
Claims process slowed down for BP
160 branches along the gulf coast of New Orleans-based Whitney National Bank plan to cash BP checks for free. By the end of this month, Kenneth Feinberg who was appointed by the government as an administrator of the fund, explains that a BP oil claims facility will be up and running.
BP said that 145,000 oil spill claims had been filed through Aug. 7. 103,900 claims totaling $ 319 million were paid already. As outlined by NPR, residents expect BP to keep them alive economically from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2010. You will find still 100,000 individuals hoping their claims can soon be fulfilled. Many say they are getting the runaround from the BP claims process. You will find some businesses waiting for Feinberg to take over before they even try to get their claims taken care of.
Fund for BP oil spill difficult to work with
While the BP oil spill fund has been highly publicized, the actual details of what is going on with the fund are murky. As outlined by the Legal Broadcast Network (LBN), no clients or lawyers can figure out how to become a part of the BP oil spill fund. The tax hit is a big concern for lawyers who don’t even know how to get payments for their clients. And numerous oil spill claimants may not be aware that legal fees on BP oil spill claims aren’t tax deductible. The people running the fund have not answered any of these questions says LBN.
Additional reading
Bloomberg
bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/bp-20-billion-oil-spill-compensation-fund-agreement-completed-with-u-s-.html
NPR
npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129074745
Legal Broadcast Network
thelegalbroadcastnetwork.squarespace.com/the-lbn-blog/2010/8/9/the-bp-oil-spill-compensation-fund-what-is-next-ken-feinberg.html
