BP Wins Expedited Appeal of Bid to Stop Spill Payments

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-03/bp-wins-expedited-appeal-of-bid-to-stop-spillpayments.html


BP Plc (BP/)’s bid to block economic-loss payments tied to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill unless the claims can be directly linked to the disaster won fast-track consideration by an appeals court.

The London-based company said last week that U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans has ignored the appellate court’s earlier decision requiring him to review causation in determining which claims should be paid. The company asked an appeals panel for immediate review while lawyers for spill victims sought a delay.

BP’s request for expedited consideration was granted in an order issued yesterday by U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement in New Orleans. She directed spill victims to respond to BP’s motion by Jan. 8 and both sides to file letters that day on the causation issue.

The blowout of BP’s deep-water Macondo well off the Louisiana coast in April 2010 killed 11 people and sent millions of barrels of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. The accident sparked thousands of lawsuits against BP, as well as Transocean Ltd. (RIG), owner of the rig that burned and sank, and Halliburton Co. (HAL), which provided cement services for the well.