BP’s legal bill is set to spike as thousands of individuals and businesses claiming nongovernmental economic damages connected with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill push to file lawsuits against the company by May 16.

Excluded from settlement

While BP settled a significant chunk of economic damage claims and environmental fines relating to the incident in a $20 billion class action settlement struck with the US Department of Justice last year, around 85,000 individuals and businesses with claims against BP were not included in the deal. Those parties have been given until May 16 to file relevant documents – either sworn statements that they haven’t released their claims, or individual lawsuits against BP – or to have their claims dismissed by the court. US District Judge Carl Barbier, who issued the pretrial order for plaintiffs, has not indicated how the court will proceed once the lawsuits have been identified and filed.

Mounting costs

On April 26, BP publicly confirmed an unexpected $917 million pre-tax charge relating to costs associated with the Deepwater Horizon spill, the bulk of which stemmed from the massive class action settlement. Total costs associated with the 2010 disaster have so far tallied as high as $56m for BP. 

Source: The National Law Journal