New Gulf Oil Spill Claims Process Begins

Thousands of victims of BP’s 2010 Gulf oil spill can participate in a new process for economic-loss and medical claims from the accident.

The Deepwater Horizon Claims Center, run by court-appointed administrator Patrick Juneau, is opening 18 intake centers across the Gulf Coast to accept such claims. They will be paid based on the strict terms of a negotiated settlement. Its central offices are based in downtown New Orleans.

A separate facility is also being opened to handle claims from residents and cleanup workers who say they were injured from exposure to the spill.

As of June 11, anyone who suffered spill-related losses or injuries and hasn’t already accepted a final settlement from BP through the former Gulf Coast Claims Facility became eligible to apply under the new process.

More information about how to file a claim of economic loss is available at www.deepwaterhorizoneconomicsettlement.com or by phone, 24 hours a day, at the toll-free number 866.992.6174. The same is true for the medical claims, at www.deepwaterhorizonmedicalsettlement.com or on its toll-free hotline at 877.545.5111.

The new payment system was set up under the terms of a settlement reached this spring to avoid a trial on thousands of health and economic-damage claims by individuals and businesses. The deal, preliminarily approved by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, was uncapped, so there’s no limit on how much money is available to pay damages, though BP has estimated the cost at about $7.8 billion.

The new claims facilities represent both a break from and a continuation of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, the entity run by Kenneth Feinberg from August 2010 through the settlement in March. Feinberg’s program paid out more than $6 billion of BP money to 225,000 claimants in those 18 months.

A transition team headed by Juneau has paid another $313 million in two months to another 12,700 claimants who were already in Feinberg’s queue.

“I want this program to kick off in a friendly manner and assist people. I want (the staff) to pay all legitimate, eligible claims 100 percent of what they’re due,” Juneau said. “This is not a negotiating matter. We are not trying to negotiate lesser sums.”

Juneau said he’s heard that claim center workers under Feinberg operated more like insurance adjusters, trying to approve the lowest payments.

Some of Feinberg’s adjusters who spoke to The Times-Picayune on condition of anonymity complained that they were not fully trained and that many workers were from outside the Gulf region. Juneau said he has insisted on well-trained and local employees.

He said he’s confident that if a claimant has all the paperwork in order, including W-9 tax forms, then straightforward claims can be paid very quickly after a 30-day ramp-up period.

“If they’ve got material to substantiate their claim, it will be largely formalistic,” Juneau said.

However, there are still going to be some sticky claims that require accountants to figure them out. Claims based on complex profit and loss statements, as well as those from failed businesses and start-ups, will require a beefed-up accounting staff, Juneau said.

He also expects to get thousands of claims that are not eligible.

Some excluded claimants have already challenged the settlement’s fairness. They include those claiming losses from the offshore drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration after the spill; BP-brand service stations that said their sales fell because of motorists’ anger at the company; or businesses in eastern Florida that claim they suffered from misperceptions about how far the spill’s effects reached.

And even a few groups covered by the settlement feel they are getting short shrift. They include charter boat operators who have to give back money they earned from BP during the spill cleanup, even though shrimpers don’t; and seafood processors, who are in the settlement but don’t fall under the same rules as seafood harvesters.

Those who don’t get what they want will retain the right to pursue their claims in court.