Thursday, February 24, 2011

BP's (BP) Feinberg Tells 1,489 Victims to Take it or Leave it

Kenneth Feinberg said he has sent 1,489 offers for final payment to victims of BP Plc’s (NYSE:BP) oil spill, the first round since completion of a methodology for calculating future losses.

Feinberg, who administers a $20 billion claims fund paid by BP, said in an interview today that he also has distributed 466 interim checks since making the payment formula final on Feb. 18. He didn’t disclose the amounts involved.

Lack of documentation for claims continues to be an obstacle to compensation, according to Feinberg, a Washington lawyer. The fund has sent letters to about 130,000 claimants asking for additional documentation to demonstrate losses. So far only 17 percent have responded, he said.

“The absence of substantiation is a huge problem,” Feinberg said.




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7 comments:

Unknown said...

Those checks have gone out in the past two days. That is how long this part of the process has been active. There was not even an interim process in place for three months. Also, 466 in two days comes to 233/day. For ~50000 claims, that should only take ~200 days to get through. Does that seem reasonable to you?

17% have responded in less than two days? That seems like a very fast response to me, especially given that documents sent in to the GCCF, no matter if sent via email, fax, or mail, are sorted in a central mail room, scanned, and uploaded to an electronic system. That process takes at least two weeks after they arrive according to several sources at the GCCF. That seems like a ridiculous amount of time in the 21st century, but why focus on the ridiculous levels of bureaucracy present in this system when you can take the opportunity to lick the boots of Mr. Feinberg and BP, right?

That absence of substantiation might also have something to do with arbitrary changes of requirements of which claimants are not made aware.

Why don't you actually try to find some actual people going through the process before your next ridiculous blog post?

Anonymous said...

As far as I'm concerned the compensation should be $0.

People hear "Oil Spill" and they think of the Exxon Valdez spill, which was refined oil. The oil released by the Deepwater Horizon was unrefined oil... oil that was still under the ocean.

Unrefined oil leaks into the ocean everyday, millions of barrels of unrefined oil. Everytime there is a sea earthquake, under-ocean oil is released... How can the world's oceans cope? Easy, specialized microbes eat the oil and are a part of the ocean food chain.

The BP oil spill was all hype and no substance. There has been no major environmental damage because of the spill.

I wouldn't blame BP if they took thier rigs, and the jobs they provide, to oil off the coasts of other countries that are not as petty as the US.

Unknown said...

Good idea anonymous. Just forget that the fishing grounds were closed, that tourists canceled reservations and the countless other financially substantial consequences as a result of dishonest and illegal actions on BP's part.

Why not just let BP do whatever they want. Why not let them dump some oil, unrefined or not, in your living room.

No environmental damage? Are you out of your mind? What qualifications do you have to substantiate that?

Christine said...

"As far as I'm concerned the compensation should be $0."

So those of us who live on the Gulf Coast who have lost thousands of dollars in income due to BP's negligence should what... suck it up?

My husband works in a restaurant in a resort in Sandestin. After the oil spill his hours were cut by half. Other restaurants in the area were closing, so no hope of just finding another job. Could your family survive if your income was suddenly reduced by half?

Since the oil spill we have lost over $12,000 in income but have received only $2,000 from BP. $10,000 might not seem like a vast difference to you but it certainly makes a difference to a family with two small children.

It has nothing to do with what the oil spill actually did to the Gulf. The perceived threat of oil on the gulf caused thousands of tourists to cancel their reservations and visit other areas instead. We got screwed over, and we don't deserve to have to pay for their mistakes.

Anonymous said...

You're right. Blame the right culprit, the liberal media who called this a greater disaster than the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the Obama White House who closed the fishing grounds.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

While you can operate in la-la land disconnected from this, try to see it from someone else's perspective. BP was knowingly and willingly breaking the law in operating the rig that cost several people their lives.

Neither the liberal media nor Obama made that happen. BP agreed they were responsible and set up a $20 billion fund to compensate those that lost income due to their illegal actions and the results thereafter. Mr. Feinberg has been an absolute disaster in his role of making sure the money got into the right hands. Of these facts, there can be next to no disagreement.

NOAA closed the fishing grounds, not the Obama White House. I am all for standing up for your political views, but you seem to forget that there are actual people involved here and it is not simply one large corporate body vs another. I sincerely hope you never have to go through what I have over the last year. I especially hope you never have to go through what thousands of fishermen, good hard working family men and women that struggle daily to put food on their tables now, have been forced to go through. They, by and large, share your views on Obama and the media, but somehow that loses importance when you have to look at your children in the morning, not yet knowing how you will feed them that night. Perhaps if you did experience something like that though, you might understand empathy and gain some much needed perspective on life.

I simply cannot understand the view that large corporations are always right. It does not make sense. They are just as capable of screwing up as anyone else and should be ready to pay the consequences when the time comes. Yes, I think the spill was overblown by some in the media, but that in no way changes the fact that people are seriously hurting now as they have been for roughly a year. I simply refuse to believe you actually think the people on the coast deserve to pay the full price for that. It just does not compute for me that you can view people as pawns.