Court Clears Way for BP Oil Spill Class Action Settlement Payments

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On Monday, a divided panel of judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied BP PLC’s attempt to bar businesses that can’t directly trace their losses to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill from recovering damages from a $9.2 billion class action settlement, finding that there is “nothing fundamentally unreasonable about what BP accepted but now wishes it had not.”

The 2-1 opinion, written by Circuit Judge Leslie H. Southwick, upheld U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier’s December 24, 2013 ruling that the BP oil spill class action settlement agreement does not require businesses to establish causation between the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and their alleged injuries. Following Judge Barbier’s decision, BP urged the 5th Circuit to prevent claims from being distributed to businesses whose economic losses could not be traced to the oil spill. BP had previously been granted a payment freeze for the economic loss payments while the courts revisited the issue of causation.

The Deepwater Horizon class action settlement was initially approved in 2012, but has been subject to numerous appeals and objections. The class was certified and the settlement was upheld by the appellate court on January 10.

“In light of our reading of the Settlement Agreement, claim form, letter briefing, and the voluminous record in this appeal, we conclude the Settlement Agreement does not require a claimant to submit evidence that the claim arose as a result of the oil spill,” Judge Southwick wrote. “Each claimant does attest, though, under penalty of perjury, that the claim in fact was due to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. … Suspicious forms would be subject to investigation.”

Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement dissented, finding that the majority decision would help claimants with losses that had “absolutely nothing to do with Deepwater Horizon or BP’s conduct.”

According to the BP oil spill class action settlement website, nearly $3.85 million has been paid to more than 42,000 claimants.

It’s not too late for private businesses to file a claim for economic and property damage. The deadline is April 22, 2014 or six months after the Effective Date of the Agreement, which has yet to be determined. Detailed instructions on how to file a valid economic damages claim for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement can be found here in our Open Lawsuit Settlements section or visit www.DeepwaterHorizonEconomicSettlement.com.

Class Members are represented by Stephen J. Herman of Herman Herman & Katz LLC, James P. Roy of Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards LLC, Brian H. Barr of Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor PA and Robin L. Greenwald of Weitz & Luxenberg PC.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill MDL is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, Case No. 2:10-md-02179, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

UPDATE 5/23/14: BP has indicated it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement and has asked the 5th Circuit to continue the payment freeze until the case is resolved.