BP Oil Spill Claim Payments to Resume

Courts Decide Not Delay Payments to Deserving Businesses Any Further

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a mandate vacating the injunction that imposed a Stay on claim payments back on October 3, 2013, and District Court Judge Barbier followed-up with an Order directing the Claims Administrator to resume payments.  This came only one day after BP’s motion to keep the Stay in place was denied by the Fifth Circuit Court.

In a short response, the Fifth Circuit issued this mandate:  “The injunction prohibiting payment of the relevant claims is vacated.”

Judge Barbier then ordered “that the injunction regarding BEL claims is DISSOLVED & VACATED. The Claims Administrator is instructed to resume the processing & payment of claims in accordance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement.”

BP has been continuously shot down in its attempts to change the terms of the deal that governs the operation of the Settlement Program.   While it agreed to objective, transparent formulas backed by financial data to support economic loss claims, it has attempted to undue this reasonable and fair approach to claims processing in order to minimize its financial responsibility for the Gulf oil disaster.

As expected, BP also today filed with the Supreme Court its “Application to Recall and Stay Mandate Pending the Filing and Disposition of a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari.”  In short, it is seeking a new injunction to try to stop payments while the High Court considers whether to hear its case.

BP’s appeals have been denied by the District Court, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the entire En Banc panel of the 5th Circuit, so we remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will follow the lead of three separate courts holding BP accountable.  Statistically, it is reported that the Supreme Court accepts 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year.
We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will put an end to BP’s attempts to claim victim while thousands of businesses that were harmed through no fault of their own still await legitimate payments more than four years after the spill.
It’s time for businesses to be fully and fairly compensated.  As you know, the window for submitting claims remains open, likely through Fall 2014.  Fulgencio Law continues to encourage all businesses to hold BP accountable for its actions and seek evaluation for a claim.