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Late last Friday (can we say under cover of darkness...) BP reached a settlement with businesses and individual plaintiffs affected by the 2010 blowout.
In their statement, BP says the amount of the settlement is $7.8 billion and would comprise two separate agreements, one to resolve economic loss claims — including $2.3 billion toward claims related to the Gulf seafood industry — and another to resolve medical claims.
This total is to be paid from the $20 billion fund initially established after the disaster, which has already paid out an estimated $6 billion through various disbursements, including Kenneth Feinberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility.
BP CEO Bob Dudley regurgitated the usual corporate boilerplate...
“The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast,” CEO Dudley said in the statement.
Blah, blah, blah... Do you have a horse, Dudds?
But the large lady vocalist isn't ready to perform just yet, because in this settlement with BP and the Plaintiff's Steering Committee (PSC - new magic acronym) not all legal items will be handled under this additional legal cover.
BP and others involved in the gusher still face civil claims from federal and state governments related to possible violation of pollution laws, and the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation.
Partners Transocean and Halliburton have not settled with business plaintiffs. (See next story...)
The trial was scheduled to start yesterday in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of New Orleans, but Barbier has now delayed the start indefinitely after the one-week postponement to allow time to reach the settlement.
In a brief order, Barbier postponed that trial indefinitely. He said the settlement will “require substantial changes to the current . . . trial plan” and that remaining parties in the case will need time to “reassess their respective positions.”
Barbier had planned to sort through scores of legal issues in the trial, the first phase of which was to apportion blame among parties.
Several companies have already received settlements, but some could also see liabilities of their own.
Weatherford International, which provided the float collar used in the final cementing of the well, settled with BP last year in exchange for protection against any compensatory claims, such as harm to the local economy. Barbier then dismissed its case as to any remaining claims.
MOEX Offshore 2007, a unit of Japan’s Mitsui that owned 10 percent of the Macondo well, settled with BP and with federal and state governments.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owned a 25 percent share, settled with BP for compensatory claims, but still could be liable for civil penalties under the Clean Water and Oil Pollution acts.
BP reached a similar settlement with Cameron, which built the blowout preventer that sat on top of the Macondo wellhead and failed as the last line of defense against loss of well control.
Okay... Now that you sort of know the situation...here is the rest of the story in the next little blue block... |
