BP's (BP) $20 Billion Fund Goes Far Beyond Legal Requirements Says Company Lawyers

According to BP's (BP) lawyers, the $20 billion escrow fund set aside to pay for damages associated with the Gulf oil spill "far exceeds" legal requirements, according to a court filing by the company.

This stems from request from U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of New Orleans, who is overseeing over 350 lawsuits seeking damages for economic and personal injuries from the Gulf disaster, for input on whether or not the company is doing enough within the parameters of existing law to compensate those harmed by the spill.

That seems to be an odd move by the judge, as current law is very clear on the matter, and it's irrelevant what someone's opinion is.

You get into subjectivity here, and also into the actual process of determining who qualifies for claims, which can get slippery and just about everybody has an opinion on the matter.

Don Haycraft, a BP lawyer stated, “That there may be different ways to run a claims process does not mean that the GCCF’s chosen methods fail to comply. The statute “does not give claimants, or the attorneys general, any right to demand judicial involvement in or modification of the claims process.”

Commenting on BP's Gulf Coast Claims Facility, attorneys for the government strangely said, “As the United States has said from the outset, the success of the GCCF can only be measured by whether the people of the Gulf feel fairly treated.”

Since when does legal requirements revolve around whether or not someone "feels" they've been fairly treated? That has absolutely nothing to do with the law.

It appears the impetus behind a lot of this isn't claimants getting paid, or getting paid in a timely manner, but lawyers being left out of the financial picture when claimants make a deal with Feinberg for payments.

In other words, this may be a lawyer-manufactured dissatisfaction which may not be based in reality at all.

If claimants think the process is slow now, wait and see what happens if Feinberg is required to operate under government supervision.