New BP campaign challenges payouts from spill settlement

NEW ORLEANS - With advertising and a tersely worded letter, BP has started a campaign to challenge what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses after its 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

In letters sent Tuesday, BP warns lawyers for many Gulf Coast businesses that it may seek to recover at least some of their clients’ shares of the multibillion-dollar settlement if it successfully appeals a key ruling in the legal mess created by the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

The London-based oil giant said it is sending hundreds of the letters to attorneys for businesses the company believes received excessive payments from thecourt-supervised settlement program.

“BP reserves whatever rights it may have to pursue any legal method to recover such overpayments,” company attorney Daniel Cantor wrote in the letter.

BP also bought a fullpage advertisement in three newspapers Wednesday that accuses “trial lawyers and some politicians” of encouraging businesses to submit thousands of claims for inflated or nonexistent losses.

“Whatever you think about BP, we can all agree that it’s wrong for anyone to take money they don’t deserve,” says the ad, which appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. “And it’s unfair to everyone in theGulf - commercial fishermen, restaurant and hotel owners, and all the other hard-working people who’ve filed legitimate claims for real losses.”

In April, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier upheld a court-appointed claims administrator’s interpretation of the multibillion-dollar settlement it reached with a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys.

BP appealed the decision. A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the case July 8.

“The court has rejected BP’s argument multiple times,” said Jim Roy, one of the lead plaintiffs’ attorneys who brokered the class-action settlement with BP. “Simply put, BP has buyers’ remorse because it guessed wrong on the cost of a deal, which it - for nearly two years - negotiated, co-authored, agreed to and sought court approval of.The notion that BP is somehow trying to portray itself as a victim is preposterous.”

BP’s ad claims Barbier’s ruling “interprets the settlement in a way no one intended” and results in settlement payouts to businesses that suffered no spill-related losses.

“Even though we’re appealing the misinterpretation of the agreement, we want you to know that the litigation over this issue has not in any way changed our commitment to the Gulf,” the ad said.

BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said the newspaper ad is consistent with the company’s efforts to keep the public informed of its economic and environmental restoration efforts.

“It explains the actionswe are taking to defend the contract we agreed to and to assure the integrity of the claims process,” he said in a statement. “But it is also intended to make clear that BP remains as committed today as it was three years ago to doing the right thing. While we are actively litigating the payments by the claims program for inflated and even fictitious losses, we remain fully committed to paying legitimate claims due to the accident.”

Barbier appointed Lafayette-based attorney Patrick Juneau to administer the settlement program. BP PLC has accused Juneau of trying to rewrite the terms of the settlement and claims he has made decisions that expose the company to what could be billions of dollars in fictitious claims.

But the judge upheld the claims administrator’s interpretation of settlement terms that govern how businesses’ pre- and post-spill revenue and expenses - and the time periods for those dollar amounts - are used to calculate their awards.

In the letter to plaintiffs’ attorneys, BP says it expects Juneau will “fulfill his fiduciary duties by seeking to recover all excessive claims payments” if the company prevails in its appeal.

“BP further notifies you that it also reserves any rights it may have to recover funds from the attorneys of claimants in the event of reversal, if those attorneys have a contingent-fee interest in the payment of the Claim,” the letter said.

Business, Pages 21 on 06/27/2013

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