Partial Victory for BP in Dispute Over Settlement
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Version 0 of 1. HOUSTON — A federal appeals court gave BP a partial victory on Wednesday by ordering a lower court judge to reconsider his interpretation of a settlement with claimants who filed billions of dollars of claims against the oil company after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. In a divided opinion, the majority found that the formula that measured a potential loss needed to be clarified. The third judge argued in a dissent that BP was trying to change the rules it had already agreed to. BP has repeatedly complained about the claims process, arguing that the program’s administrator, Patrick Juneau, was approving fabricated payments for business economic losses based on an unsound interpretation of an agreement the company reached with victims last year. BP has also repeatedly asked Judge Carl J. Barbier of United States District Court to suspend payments of private claims because of misinterpretations of the agreement and additional accusations of fraud. But Judge Barbier has refused, ruling that Mr. Juneau interpreted the settlement properly. The United States Court of Appeals in New Orleans, while upholding the lower court’s dismissal of a BP lawsuit against Mr. Juneau, ordered Judge Barbier to give “further consideration” to the complaints. “The district court had no authority to approve the settlement of a class that included members that had not sustained losses at all, or had sustained losses unrelated to the oil spill as BP alleges,” the court ruled. It concluded that in the event that the administrator was interpreting the settlement to include people who did not suffer spill damages, “the settlement is unlawful.” The Appeals Court ordered Judge Barbier to develop a “narrowly tailored injunction” that will allow for “deliberate reconsideration of these significant issues.” BP has also complained that private contractors working for the claims office have been wasting money and that the office has lacked antifraud controls. In a recent court filing, BP requested that payments be suspended until the former F.B.I. director Louis Freeh, who was appointed by Judge Barbier to investigate wrongdoing in the claims process, helps the claims office improve and execute antifraud procedures. Mr. Juneau did not immediately respond to the decision, which was released late in the day. “BP is extremely pleased with today’s ruling,” said Geoff Morrell, a BP spokesman. “Today’s ruling affirms what BP has been saying since the beginning: claimants should not be paid for fictitious or wholly nonexistent losses.” |