Judge won’t block BP spill payouts
Oil company could pay billions to Gulf businesses
NEW ORLEANS – A federal judge on Friday rejected BP’s request to block what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses that claim the company’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cost them money.
Before the ruling, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier already had upheld court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau’s interpretation of settlement terms governing payments to businesses affected by the spill. Barbier said he saw no reason to change his March 5 ruling on the same matter and issue a preliminary injunction that would block Juneau from making payments to businesses.
Barbier also on Friday dismissed a separate lawsuit that BP filed against Juneau, who had argued he was entitled to immunity from the suit.
BP appealed both rulings later Friday, asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review them.
BP argued that Juneau made decisions in January that expose the company to fictitious losses that were never contemplated in the settlement.
“We think it rewrites the contract. We think it rewards people who have no losses,” BP attorney Rick Godfrey said.
Private plaintiffs’ attorneys who brokered last year’s deal with BP say the London-based oil giant’s allegations are baseless and self-serving. Steve Herman, one of the lead plaintiffs’ attorneys on the case, said BP’s request was merely a legal gambit designed to clear another path for an appeals court to review the matter.