Unsettling Business: The BP Settlement Agreement

Two years since the settlement agreement between BP and plaintiffs of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, myriad challenges to the agreement by BP related to the calculation of business economic loss payments and causation have been filed. While BP has been successful in its efforts to revise the rules for calculation of payments, it has been less successful on the causation issue. This article reviews the history of the settlement agreement, summarizes the status of business economic loss payment claims, and discusses the impact of BP challenges on claimants at all stages of the claims process, including businesses that have previously received payments. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.