U.S.Gov’t Plans to Legally Pursue BP Despite BP’s 7.8B Settlement with Individuals

Posted in BP British Petroleum,Deepwater Horizon,Government,Gulf Coast,Maritime Law,Maritime Lawsuits,World Maritime News on March 5, 2012

The U.S. government plans to legally pursue BP, despite BP’s recent out of court settlement for $7.8B with individual plaintiffs. BP reached an out of court settlement with the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC) late on Friday night in one of the largest ever class-action settlements.

The settlement plans to meet 110,000 private claims for individuals and businesses who suffered over the Deepwater Horizon disaster.The money is expected to come from the $20B oil spill fund that was set up by BP after the 2010 Gulf oil oil spill.

The DoJ said: “While we are pleased that BP may be stepping up to address harms to individual plaintiffs, this by no means fully addresses its responsibility for the harms it has caused.”

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said the settlement does not compensate for “significant damages” or BP’s “violation of the law”, therefore the DoJ plans to bring a federal negligence case against BP.

Under the Clean Water Act, BP could be fined as much as $18B if they are found to be grossly negligent.

Maritime attorneys, Gordon, Elias & Seely, L.L.P. work with Jones Act clients all along the Gulf Coast and throughout the nation. We are the leading offshore injury law firm representing victims of the BP, Transocean Deepwater Horizon disaster, along with assisting businesses that were damaged by the impact of the Gulf oil spill.