News, the Process

News about the fund and claims process:

For most up to date articles, please see the main page of this blog.

July 19, 2010. ProPublica: “New BP Data Shows Payments on Less Than a Third of Claims.” As we predicted, BP is acting like a typical insurance company in responding to claims. BP’s claims process is understaffed, underfunded and uses the age-old insurance tactics of rotating adjusters and asking for more information, then more information, then more information, with the obvious goal to have victims give up in frustration. This article confirms it. Unfortunately for Mr. Feinberg, as he criss-crosses the Gulf telling people about the benefits of ths process (once he takes over), BP is making his job very difficult by giving the public every reason to doubt the integrity of the process. The sooner Mr. Feinberg takes over the process, the better.

July 17, 2010. Good, long article from the New York Times on Mr. Feinberg and the process. Click here for article.

July 15, 2010. Kenneth Feinberg tells people in Louisiana that claims center should be up and running in two to three weeks, payments will start being made in early August, payments will be made no later than 90 days after claim submitted, and eligible claimants are making a “big mistake” if they do not file claims with his claims facility. See story here.

July 13, 2010. Interview with Kenneth Feinberg, when questioned about eligibility, he states, “Beachfront properties, fishermen, shrimpers, oyster harvesters, restaurants on the shore, easy cases. Relatively easy cases.” Click here for interview.

July 11, 2010. Interview with Kenneth Feinberg on CNN where he discusses 6 month interim payments (which do not require a release of BP) and future settlement offers and other details of the to-be-announced claims process. Click here for interview.

July 9, 2010. Fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg says that vacation rental owners should “absolutely” submit claims for lost rentals. Click here for story.

July 5, 2010. Article from Houston Chronicle about claims process, documentation to be submitted, and quotes from Mr. Feinberg. Click here for article.

July 4, 2010, Interview with Mr. Feinberg on Fox News Sunday. Click here for interview.

July 4, 2010. Article from New Orleans Times-Picayune with quotes from the interview with Mr. Feinberg. The article indicates that specific details about the claims process will be issued this week. Click here for article.

June 30, 2010, Mr. Feinberg says that he will pay six months worth of damages, instead of month to month. Click here for story.

June 30, 2010. Mr. Feinberg encourages business to file claims immediately, that interim payments will not result in releases of claims against BP, but that he will attempt to later settle claims against BP. Click for story here.

June 3o, 2010, Mr. Feinberg says that general loss of tourism claims will be “close calls”. Click here for story. (Note: this illustrates the importance of having rental histories and other documents to support a claim).

June 28, 2010, Interview with Kenneth Feinberg, click here.

June 22, 2010. Good overview of Mr. Feinberg and his job here–click here.

Attorney Tony Buzbee is frequently sought out by local, national and international media for interviews on the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, the resulting oil spill and his long history fighting BP, Transocean and Halliburton in court. Below are several of those interviews.