Gulf Coast Claims Facility Criticized

Ken Feinberg (Photo by Bill Starling/

Courtesy of Press-Register)

Ken Feinberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility receives criticism in its earliest stages

By Nicholas Moroni

Ken Feinberg's Gulf Claims Facility began officially evaluating the claims of alleged spill victims amid a choir of criticism. In the days preceding the transition, Attorneys General from Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi have all offered up their qualms with the manner in which Feinberg will apparently determine the legitimacy of claims.

Feinberg has maintained that proximity to the spill will be a major factor - a cause for concern for residents in regions further away from the shoreline, who claim the spill's effects were still largely felt. In Florida, where oil did show up along the shoreline, tourism in the state has reportedly taken a nosedive, which some credit to the general region's image. Feinberg has stated that stigmatization is not legitimate cause for compensation.

"We've got a proposed geographic map along the Gulf Coast that gives us some flexibility of how we will define proximity," the Washington attorney recently told The Palm Beach Post. However, The Wall Street Journal reported today that Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said there is more stringency to Feinberg's loosely defined protocol than is found in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. He called Feinberg's described methods "completely unacceptable."

Claimants, the attorneys general, and elected individuals have taken issue with Feinberg's ill-deifined position on the responsibilty of business associates of BP. Uncertainty as to whether these companies can be sued following a final settlement, and the deduction of any money paid to fisherman that participated in BP's Vessel of Opportunity clean-up routine, are controverstial topics.

"Mr. Feinberg appears to be completely tone-deaf to the concerns of people along the Gulf Coast," Alabama Attorney General Troy King told The Journal.

Feinberg at this time is mending the protocol he released last week, so all of the evaluation process is subject to change.

To his critics, if litigation is a better options, he advises them to "go ahead."

Damages Lawsuits Filed Against BP by Spill Victims Tests the Claims Process

Damages suits against BP to be heard in New Orleans

By Nicholas Moroni

Hundreds of lawsuits filed by spill victims seeking finanical damages from oil giant BP will be heard in a New Orleans court.

Federal judge, Carl Barbier will hear some 300 cases that have been filed by spill victims seeking reparations for financial damages allegedly suffered subsequent to the spill. BP had hoped to avoid such litigation when it agreed in June to earmark a $20 billion escrow fund for spill victims. However, the Financial Times reports the aftermath of the sealed Macondo well has all the makings of Exxon-Valdez litigation.

BP had hoped to have the cases heard in Texas (its headquarters are in Houston): perhaphs in an attempt to appear before a friendlier jury.

Judge Barbier's hearing the cases initally carried some controversy, as well. BP maintained that Barbier's presiding over the cases, would be a conflict of interest because of shares that he held in Transocean (the operator of the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig) and Halliburton, which was involved in the Macondo drilling. Barbier has since sold the shares, and a Court of Appeals conceded that the sale of the shares posed no conflict.

The oil giant claimed it respected the decision, and that it "look[ed] forward to the cases proceeding as expeditiously as possibly."