SALON

Monday, Apr 16, 2012 11:15 PM UTC

Judge extends deadline for BP oil spill settlement

By

Topics: From the Wires,

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge on Monday extended a deadline for BP and a team of plaintiffs’ attorneys to file details of a proposed settlement designed to resolve billions of dollars in economic damage claims spawned by the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company and lawyers representing more than 100,000 individuals and businesses were expected late Monday to present the formal terms of the settlement agreement to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans and ask him for preliminary approval.

Early Monday evening, Barbier extended the deadline to Wednesday morning. He said the parties needed more time to finish compiling supporting documentation and exhibits.

London-based BP PLC estimates it will pay about $7.8 billion to resolve private party claims, but the proposed settlement doesn’t have a cap.

The agreement announced March 2 doesn’t resolve separate claims brought by the federal government and Gulf states against BP and its contractors on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig over environmental damage from the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

BP set up a $20 billion compensation fund after the April 20, 2010, blowout of its Macondo well. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility paid out more than $6 billion from the fund before a court-supervised administrator took over the claims process on March 8.

The agreement calls for BP to pay $2.3 billion for seafood-related claims by commercial fishing vessel owners, captains and deckhands.

BP and the plaintiffs’ attorneys also have said their agreement calls for paying eligible claims by cleanup workers and others who say they suffered illnesses from exposure to the oil. Many people have filed claims asserting spill-related illnesses, but none were paid by the GCCF.

The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, which negotiated the proposed settlement, filed a class-action complaint Monday against BP on behalf of cleanup workers and coastal residents who claim they were harmed by exposure to oil or chemicals that were used to disperse the oil. The committee members also filed a separate class-action complaint against BP over the economic loss and property damages claims. The new complaints are believed to be procedural moves that pave the way for both sets of claims to be settled.

More Michael Kunzelman.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • A missing poster hangs on a tree outside the Cleveland home of Amanda Berry Wednesday. Berry and two other women, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, made a daring escape this week after being held captive for more than a decade.
    Credit: AP/Tony Dejak

  • Elvis Rafael Rodriguez and Emir Yasser Yeje offer their best impression of  Eric B. & Rakim. On Thursday, New York prosecutors identified the pair as members of an international gang that robbed $45 million in a matter of hours by hacking into a database of prepaid debit cards and draining ATM machines around the world.
    Credit: AP

  • New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie walks to a podium during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Technology Enhanced Accelerated Learning Center at Essex County Newark Tech in Newark, N.J., Tuesday. Christie made less flattering headlines this week after undergoing a secret stomach surgery to curb his weight.
    Credit: AP/Julio Cortez

  • Workers stand outside the Tung Hai Sweater Ltd. factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday after a fire broke out in its 11-story building. Eight people were killed in the blaze.
    Credit: AP/Ismail Ferdous

  • Workers rescue a woman trapped for 17 days in the rubble of a garment factory building in Saver, Bangladesh, Friday. The building's collapse was the worst industrial disaster in the country's history, killing more than 1,000 people.
    Credit: AP

  • Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford gives his victory speech Tuesday in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., after winning back his old congressional seat in the state's first district.
    Credit: AP/Rainier Ehrhardt

  • Jodi Arias reacts in Maricopa Country Superior Court Wednesday after being found guilty of first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander. Arias has subsequently said she wants the death penalty, claiming she'd "prefer to die sooner than later."
    Credit: AP/The Arizona Republic/Rob Schumacher

  • Ariel Castro stands for his mug shot Thursday at the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center, where he is being held on $8 million bail. The former bus driver is accused of imprisoning three young women and beating them repeatedly over a period of 10 years.
    Credit: AP/Cuyahoga County

  • Charles Ramsey addresses the media Monday after helping rescue three women held captive in Cleveland for more than a decade. Ramsey's hero portraiture has been complicated by revelations of his own domestic violence record.
    Credit: AP/The Plain Dealer/Scott Shaw

  • Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force, testifies during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The military branch was rocked this week after its chief sexual assault prevention officer was charged with sexual battery.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments are not enabled for this story.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations