BP to Continue Paying Claims Stemming From 2010 Oil Spill, Supreme Court Says
On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court said the oil company British Petroleum has to continue to pay claims from the fund that was established following the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during the company's appeal to the terms of its settlement with some businesses.
The justices allowed the lower courts handling BP's appeals to refuse a halt of payments as the company continues to argue against the ruling that businesses don't have to prove they were directly affected by the spill to receive money, The Associated Press reported.
The claims fund was established following the oil spill caused by an explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon well off the Louisiana coast. The explosion took the lives of 11 people while the well leaked for almost three months, causing one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
BP has contended the 2012 ruling by the 5th Circuit and district court, which claimed the company agreed to the terms of paying small businesses back without providing strict proof.
The multinational oil and energy corporation initially estimated back in 2010 that roughly $7.8 billion would cover all the claims but has since argued that the administrator's misinterpretation of the settlement could cost BP billions of added dollars in bogus or inflated claims, according to Al Jazeera America.
BP insisted that the claims administrator is interpreting the agreement to mean businesses don't have to prove a direct link to the spill but only losses during and after the catastrophe, said BP spokesman Geoff Morrell.
"The company continues to believe that the lifting of the injuction suspending the payment of business economic loss claims will allow hundreds of millions of dollars to be irretrievably scattered to claimants whose losses were not plausibly caused by the Deepwater Horizon accident."
BP said it has paid more than $12 billion in claims so far to individuals, government entities and businesses. The company is also due in court in January 2015 in New Orleans where litigation will determine how much BP will pay for penalties toward the federal Clean Water Act.
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