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Article

13 Nov 2011

Author:
Jeremy Alford, HoumaToday.com [USA]

Attorneys sue BP on behalf of Gulf fishermen

...Faegre and Benson law firm has filed suit against BP over the Vessels of Opportunity program. BP set up the program in the wake of its 2010 oil spill in effort to both stop the encroaching crude and to pay out-of-work fishermen for their assistance and for the use of their boats. The...complaint...alleges that BP reneged on contractual commitments to shrimpers, crabbers and oystermen. The firm represents the interests of 495 fishermen who relied upon the Gulf of Mexico for their livelihoods. Attorneys from Faegre and Benson argue the fishermen were deceived by BP when the oil company asked them to sign substitute contracts relinquishing rights they had obtained under their initial agreements...[T]he fishermen, a great number of whom are Vietnamese-American, have not yet been paid the amounts they were promised, nor have their vessels been decontaminated at BP’s expense...BP’s counsel contends that the Gulf Coast Claims Facility has not offset payments earned through the Vessels of Opportunity program when determining economic loss awards.

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