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[Rajack]

http://www.businessweek.com/printer...dudley-on-the-gulf-oil-spills-legal-aftermath

After the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP (BP) said it wanted to clean up the mess, pay what it owed, and get on with business. Three years later, you’re at war with plaintiffs’ lawyers. What happened?
It was a terrible accident. And from that time on, we said we would want to step up and make good. We are still committed to make sure that legitimate claimants and people who were true victims of the spill are paid. Immediately after the spill, we set up our own facilities across the Gulf and paid out around $400 million. Then, during the Ken Feinberg settlement process, more than $6 billion was paid out. [BP hired Washington attorney Kenneth Feinberg to oversee claims payments.] And then we made a deal with a plaintiffs’ steering committee to complete the process of paying out to legitimate victims of the spill.

Quite frankly, the results have been really strange. The claims going through a claims facility have resulted in absurd results, and millions of dollars are going out to pay people who suffered, in many cases, no losses from the spill. And this is just not right. I don’t think it’s right for America. We’re a big investor in the United States, and we’ve challenged this really strongly. It’s just not right.

What do you mean it’s not good for America?
Any company that makes in good faith an agreement to respond—and I don’t think there are many companies that have responded more responsibly to an industrial accident—when you make an agreement and you don’t have the faith and the trust that agreement is going to be interpreted the way you expect, it’s not good for America. As I travel around the globe and meet with world leaders and other CEOs, the litigious culture of the U.S., the class-action culture—quite frankly, the ambulance chasing, the patent trolls—is what’s being talked about.

This can only end badly for him...

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

 

[No Love]

 

[massoluk]

Your parking tickets fine probably didn't go to people harmed by your parking ettiquette also, bro.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

TORT REFORM or something.

 

[wenis]

How about instead of all that he can go eat a bag of dicks and continue to pay out of his ass for his fuckup.

 

[numble]

Your parking tickets fine probably didn't go to people harmed by your parking ettiquette also, bro.

These are payments paid through a claims process to people claiming they were victims.

 

[BeerSnob]

You nearly killed an entire Gulf, the fact that you have any money left at all is an injustice.

 

[Featheredkitten]

He's kinda got a point. I mean, yes they should pay for people who suffered losses and what not, but his problem seems to be that people are submitting claims for no reason.


Also: Hehehe he said troll.

 

[Wilester]

The title of the OP isn't exactly accurate.....

 

[Lambtron]

He's kinda got a point. I mean, yes they should pay for people who suffered losses and what not, but his problem seems to be that people are submitting claims for no reason.

I have zero sympathy for these scumbags.

 

[powicewobots]

Obviously BP should continue to pay for any legitimate claims arising from the disaster. But I do think there are a great deal of spurious claims being made by people that weren't actually affected in any significant way.

 

[massoluk]

These are payments paid through a claims process to people claiming they were victims.

Hmmm. fair enough. But isn't that exactly what the claim process is for?

 

[Jackpot]

I forget, was it BP that destroyed evidence that they knew the well was unsafe or was that Halliburton?

 

[Syraxith]

He's kinda got a point. I mean, yes they should pay for people who suffered losses and what not, but his problem seems to be that people are submitting claims for no reason.


Also: Hehehe he said troll.

Ding ding ding! Someone who read the article and not just OP's bait title.

 

[Featheredkitten]

I have zero sympathy for these scumbags.

So fairness only applies up to a certain point? They're an oil company, which okay makes them the devil -.- and there was an accident that decimated the gulf, but they should have to pay people who weren't affected by it? Just because?

Ding ding ding! Someone who read the article and not just OP's bait title.

I aim to please.

 

[captive]

this thread is going to be great. He's basically said the same shit people on GAF say all day every day about patent trolls, and people getting things they dont deserve etc. But, he will be flamed cause he's BP.

 

[Lonestar]

Well, seeing local commercials of lawyers asking "if you feel your business has been affected, no matter how small, by the Oil Spill, please contact us to work your claim." Just Death by 1000 cuts, via ambulance chasing lawyers.

But then it's BP.

So, I don't know who to pull for, both are spectacularly vile.

 

[Intheflorsh]

"Gee guys! It's all fixed now. Didn't you see the ads we put on TV with the smiling fishermen?"

 

[GungHo]

I forget, was it BP that destroyed evidence that they knew the well was unsafe or was that Halliburton?

Halliburton.

 

[HammerOfThor]

Are these from an ep about the oil spill? What ep #?

 

[Chojin]

I want a unicorn and a blowjob android.

But seriously, you fuck up you pay for it. End of story.

Still making record profits off of a huge ass disaster doesn't really scream "yeah we paid our dues" I'm not saying they should go bankrupt but I feel thats why the CEO feels like he shouldn't be held responsible for what they did as they will continue to make out like literal bandits.

 

[Ataraxia]

BP rage is still strong. I remember the days when people held boycotts outside local BP stations in my city even though they were each individually owned by people just trying to support their families and had nothing to do with the oil spill.

 

[Earthstrike]

Why should BP be the arbiter of who is a legitimate claimant? That is the courts job.

It would be quite troubling if those who are responsible for a disaster are arbiters of who are affected by it.

 

[questionmark]

I love the term ambulance chasing, never heard it before. It's so fitting.

The title of the OP isn't exactly accurate.....

Yeah, pretty pathetic attempt at a title imo.

 

[ambientmystic]

http://i.qkme.me/3tzr81.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

[quote="NoLoveForFailWheelDrive, post: 75574543"][img]http://thankyoueurope.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/south-park-bp-sorry1.png[img][/QUOTE]

Well done. First post GAF does it again.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

So fairness only applies up to a certain point? They're an oil company, which okay makes them the devil -.- and there was an accident that decimated the gulf, but they should have to pay people who weren't affected by it? Just because?

So what is the foolproof way of fixing wrong complaints? This is true of every pay out/help ever so what does he want? This happened during Katrina and pretty much every other major event so what is the solution besides he just doesn't want to pay anymore? That's not fair either and since it's their fuckup, I would think they have to burden having false claims rather than fucking over victims if there's not another solution.

 

[Vyroxis]

I have zero sympathy for these scumbags.

They fucked up, and paid to clean up the mess and set aside billions for those that were honestly hurt by it. They have also spent hundreds of millions studying the distaster to prevent it from happening again including designing state of the art cutoff systems from scratch, and how to accelerate the cleanup process and minimize damage should it happen again. Id say they are paying their dues for what happened and doing a lot to prevent another incident.

He is upset that people are taking advantage of funds set aside for actual victims for an easy payday. Id say he has every right to be upset by that. Can they spare the money? For sure. Does that mean he can't complain about it? Nope.

 

[Jezbollah]

I want a unicorn and a blowjob android.

But seriously, you fuck up you pay for it. End of story.

Still making record profits off of a huge ass disaster doesn't really scream "yeah we paid our dues" I'm not saying they should go bankrupt but I feel thats why the CEO feels like he shouldn't be held responsible for what they did as they will continue to make out like literal bandits.

They did pay a shit ton. A lot of wrong people got the money.

I'd love to know more about what went on with the claims process to allow people who didnt lose anything get money when people who suffered didnt.

In my opinion, the claims culture in society is just as much to blame for this (compensation funds) situation as BP. There should have been legal framework in place to protect against spurious claims.

He is upset that people are taking advantage of funds set aside for actual victims for an easy payday. Id say he has every right to be upset by that. Can they spare the money? For sure. Does that mean he can't complain about it? Nope.

Fair comment.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

They fucked up, and paid to clean up the mess and set aside billions for those that were honestly hurt by it. They have also spent hundreds of millions studying the distaster to prevent it from happening again including designing state of the art cutoff systems from scratch, and how to accelerate the cleanup process and minimize damage should it happen again. Id say they are paying their dues for what happened and doing a lot to prevent another incident.

He is upset that people are taking advantage of funds set aside for actual victims for an easy payday. Id say he has every right to be upset by that. Can they spare the money? For sure. Does that mean he can't complain about it? Nope.

If you're going to reduce arguments to that then no one can every say something about complaining whether it's a legitimate problem or not. Yes, he is physically able to complain but people are also able to not give a shit that it bothers him and can complain about his complaining. I think it's obvious anyone can complain about anything they want, it's not illegal.

 

[Featheredkitten]

So what is the foolproof way of fixing wrong complaints? This is true of every pay out/help ever so what does he want? This happened during Katrina and pretty much every other major event so what is the solution besides he just doesn't want to pay anymore? That's not fair either and since it's their fuckup, I would think they have to burden having false claims rather than fucking over victims if there's not another solution.

Take it away guys:

He is upset that people are taking advantage of funds set aside for actual victims for an easy payday. Id say he has every right to be upset by that. Can they spare the money? For sure. Does that mean he can't complain about it? Nope.

They did pay a shit ton. A lot of wrong people got the money.

I'd love to know more about what went on with the claims process to allow people who didnt lose anything get money when people who suffered didnt.

In my opinion, the claims culture in society is just as much to blame for this (compensation funds) situation as BP. There should have been legal framework in place to protect against spurious claims.

So there's that.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Take it away guys:




So there's that.

You didn't answer my question even a little bit so what do you mean "take it away guys!"? How do you prevent the fraud? I never said he's not legally able to complain. I'm not sure what this has to do with my post.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

The title of the OP isn't exactly accurate.....

He's kinda got a point. I mean, yes they should pay for people who suffered losses and what not, but his problem seems to be that people are submitting claims for no reason.

Agree with these two

 

[jstripes]

As I travel around the globe and meet with world leaders and other CEOs, the litigious culture of the U.S., the class-action culture—quite frankly, the ambulance chasing, the patent trolls—is what’s being talked about.

As much as BP fucked up big time and deserves to pay out, I can't say he's wrong.

Money should go to those affected, not opportunists.

 

[numble]

They want to temporarily halt payments (not stop paying forever) because they say they have evidence that there are corrupt lawyers in charge with handling appeals and a corrupt employee in the claims office.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/08/bp_claims_evidence_of_fraudule.html

BP on Monday renewed its request for a federal judge to temporarily halt the payment of millions of dollars of economic claims stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, charging it has found new evidence of improper payment of claims by an employee at a Mobile, Ala., claims office and of apparent conflicts of interest involving attorneys handling appeals in the payment process.

...

In June, court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau announced that he was conducting an internal investigation after hearing rumors that a top-ranking staff attorney had received portions of settlement payments from clients he had referred to the office before his employment there. On July 2, Federal Judge Carl Barbier appointed former FBI Director Louis Freeh to conduct an investigation. That investigation is not yet complete.


BP again asked in its new motion that payments be suspended until the Freeh investigation is complete.


In its Monday motion, BP said a tip passed on to the company via its fraud phone hotline on July 15, the day after hotline started, claimed an employee at a Mobile, Ala., claims processing office was processing fraudulent claims and receiving part of the claims proceeds.

After BP told officials with the Court Supervised Settlement Program of the allegation, an investigation resulted in an employee of the Mobile office being suspended, the motion said.

"According to the tip, the employee was assisting individuals, including family members, in submitting fraudulent subsistence claims to the CSSP in exchange for payment of a portion of settlement awards that may be paid to these individual claimants," said a legal brief accompanying the motion. "The employee allegedly recruited individuals to submit fraudulent claims, provided advice regarding what claim details would yield the maximum claim possible, and received a portion of the awards."

"After investigation, the CSSP concluded that the employee's mother had filed a claim, and that the employee indeed had 'initiated' other subsistence claims, one of which already had been approved," the brief said. A subsistence claim is for damages alleged by a fisherman who catches fish for his or her own family.

...

A BP comparison of business economic claims filed by law firms with the names of attorneys who were chosen to serve on panels hearing appeals of claims turned up as many as three lawyers who had worked at companies that represented claimants at the same time they served on appeals panels.

The company contends that is a conflict of interest, based on both state and federal laws and rules governing court settlements.

In its motion, BP said "the law firms of two appeal panelists were representing claimants and submitting claims on the firms' own behalf while the panelists were issuing rulings over disputed claims."

BP said a third appeals panelist also had an apparent conflict of interest, and resigned.

"Simply put, an Appeal Panelist cannot adjudicate BP disputes while his or her firm (and therefore he or she) is adverse to BP, without first obtaining an informed waiver," BP said in its brief.

One of the law firms represented at least five claimants who submitted business loss claims between October 2012 and April 2013, during the time its partner served in the pool of appeal panelists, while the other firm represented at least nine business loss claimants between April and June while its partner was an appeal panelist. Both of the firms also had filed their own claims for business losses, the memorandum said.

Why should BP be the arbiter of who is a legitimate claimant? That is the courts job.

It would be quite troubling if those who are responsible for a disaster are arbiters of who are affected by it.

Claims aren't processed by the court. They are processed by some appointed lawyers. Apparently sometimes the claims are processed by lawyers who work with the lawyers representing some claimants.

 

[Chojin]

They want to temporarily halt payments (not stop paying forever) because they say they have evidence that there are corrupt lawyers in charge with handling appeals and a corrupt employee in the claims office.

[/QUOTE] I can agree to want to ...w on a hangnail will do more harm in the end.

 

[mre]

He's kinda got a point. I mean, yes they should pay for people who suffered losses and what not, but his problem seems to be that people are submitting claims for no reason.


Also: Hehehe he said troll.

The problem, here, is that BP is complaining about a settlement it not only willingly entered into, it helped negotiate. Are the eligibility requirements broad? Yes, but BP agreed to the negotiated terms because it wanted the publicity of being seen as being ready, willing, and able to make amends for its malfeasance.

However, now that BP has realized that it struck a very, very poor deal, it wants to back out. I say to them, "good luck," but I think the judge is going to tell them to pound sand.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

They want to temporarily halt payments (not stop paying forever) because they say they have evidence that there are corrupt lawyers in charge with handling appeals and a corrupt employee in the claims office.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/08/bp_claims_evidence_of_fraudule.html




Claims aren't processed by the court. They are processed by some appointed lawyers. Apparently sometimes the claims are processed by lawyers who work with the lawyers representing some claimants.

You're still harming those affected though. It doesn't seem to say how long he wants them to wait and I don't see how that's fair that people affected have to wait even longer after 3 years because they're afraid of fraud. They can have investigations but just keeping from paying out is kind of shitty.

 

[Wilsongt]

BP has a right to check out fraudulent claims. But, should still pay all legitimate claims filed.

 

[diffusionx]

Has BP even cleaned it up? All evidence says they just sprayed a bunch of dispersant chemicals into the ocean that just sunk everything to the bottom. Oh, and it's now destroying the Gulf ecosystem. Better for PR than seeing waves of black gunk splash onto the shore.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

I'm always going to be suspicious toward massive corporations that whine about paying civil penalties for their own fuck-ups after the shit a lot of them got together and pulled in the 90s.

 

[Trojita]

BP is so lucky the ocean is covering up its fuck up. At some point that sludge is going to come back.

 

[mre]

They fucked up, and paid to clean up the mess and set aside billions for those that were honestly hurt by it. They have also spent hundreds of millions studying the distaster to prevent it from happening again including designing state of the art cutoff systems from scratch, and how to accelerate the cleanup process and minimize damage should it happen again. Id say they are paying their dues for what happened and doing a lot to prevent another incident.

He is upset that people are taking advantage of funds set aside for actual victims for an easy payday. Id say he has every right to be upset by that. Can they spare the money? For sure. Does that mean he can't complain about it? Nope.

How do you measure if some one was "honestly hurt by it"?

 

[CornBurrito]

I have zero sympathy for these scumbags.

So submitting false claims and essentially stealing are all fine and dandy?

 

[GungHo]

Has BP even cleaned it up? All evidence says they just sprayed a bunch of dispersant chemicals into the ocean that just sunk everything to the bottom. Oh, and it's now destroying the Gulf ecosystem. Better for PR than seeing waves of black gunk splash onto the shore.

We're still seeing plenty of tarballs along the coast, though some folks say (lie) that it's always been like that and that I'm anti-business.

 

[P44]

I have zero sympathy for these scumbags.

See, it's just that, that's a very emotional response. I would probably prefer government to be driven by rationality - in this case, BP are pointing out a significant flaw in the claims system. Now, does the flaw cease to exist, or warrant ignoring because BP did something bad? The system had got be be firm handed, but rigid and fair on both sides of the equation, otherwise how can anybody respect it?

 

[NH Apache]

We're still seeing plenty of tarballs along the coast, though some folks say (lie) that it's always been like that and that I'm anti-business.

This is what I'm bullshit about. There's still shit floating up. They pulled the cleanup crews far too fast.

And as someone who had their legit claim denied, the whole process was fucked from day 1. I know people who were in the same profession as me and were paid for the money the lost in business. But for some reason that was not identified, my shit was denied. So personally, I think this whole thing was bs.

 

[mre]

See, it's just that, that's a very emotional response. I would probably prefer government to be driven by rationality - in this case, BP are pointing out a significant flaw in the claims system. Now, does the flaw cease to exist, or warrant ignoring because BP did something bad? The system had got be be firm handed, but rigid and fair on both sides of the equation, otherwise how can anybody respect it?

If someone in the claims administrator has been compromised and has been processing fraudulent claims, then they absolutely need to be removed from their position.

But trust me that this is not BPs only issue with the claims process. They are also arguing that the claims process is flawed or fraudulent because the pool of individuals and entities who are eligible to file claims by the terms of the settlement agreement is magnitudes larger than what BP expected.

 

[IISANDERII]

So fairness only applies up to a certain point? They're an oil company, which okay makes them the devil -.- and there was an accident that decimated the gulf, but they should have to pay people who weren't affected by it? Just because.

We are all affected by it. One Earth, one ecosystem.
Hard to put a price on that, and i do agree that the fraudulent claims should be tossed but it's hard not to stare at a wounded profiteer being picked at by all kinda scavengers.
Carry on.

 

[Dark Octave]

I have zero sympathy for these scumbags.

It was an accident. It's not like they set out to destroy the world.