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Article

13 Jan 2012

Author:
Reuters

Claimants challenge holdback in BP oil spill case [USA]

...[L]awyers for claimants before the $20 billion BP oil spill fund asked a federal judge to reconsider his December order requiring that six percent of future settlements be placed in a reserve account...On January 4, Barbier amended his order to clarify the order would only affect claimants who hadn't received a determination letter from the BP fund as of December 31. That clarification has not appeased lawyers for clients seeking compensation from the fund, known as the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which is being administered by Kenneth Feinberg. At least seven motions were filed...asking Barbier to reconsider his order..."It would be ironic, as well as grossly unfair and contrary to prior pronouncements of this Court, for claimants whose only possible recovery for their economic damages is through OPA and the GCCF to have those recoveries reduced for work that even this Court has ruled cannot benefit them," he [Daniel Becnel, Jr., an attorney for Gulf Coast Claims Facility claimants] wrote in a filing...Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice, which is a party to the oil spill litigation, objected to Barbier's order as well.

Part of the following timelines

USA: Claimants before Gulf Coast Claims Facility ask court to reconsider order requiring that percentage of all settlements be set aside to pay for work of plaintiffs' lawyers in oil spill litigation

US Deepwater Horizon explosion & oil spill lawsuits