BP told to stop circulating settlement agreements with coastal Alabamians

[kpete]

Source: Alabama Press Register

BP told to stop circulating settlement agreements with coastal Alabamians
By George Talbot
May 02, 2010, 8:49PM


Attorney General Troy KingView full sizeHuntsville Times photoAttorney General Troy King has asked BP to cease circulating settlement agreements among south Alabamians.Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.

The agreements, King said, essentially require that people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000.

King said BP's efforts were particularly strong in Bayou La Batre.

The attorney general said he is prohibited from giving legal advice to private citizens, but added that "people need to proceed with caution and understand the ramifications before signing something like that.



Read more: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/bp_told_to_stop_circulating_se.html

[Truth2Tell]

1. Scum. nt

[kysrsoze]

7. Agree. Nothing more to say.

[happygoluckytoyou]

16. if the person is a TEABAGGER, i say let them take on BP alone... (small gov't you know)

[tekisui]

2. $5,000?

:rofl:

I hope no unsuspecting people fall for that.

[depakid]

3. How much did Alaskans get from Exxon (and how long has it taken?)

Might make sense for certain individuals depending on their circumstances, to take the money up front.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

5. THIS WILL GO TO THE SUPREMES

BEEN PLANNED FOR YEARS

[depakid]

10. Oh please

[Tunkamerica]

11. any further thoughts?

that's a little vague

[depakid]

13. Just generally not into conspiracy theory...

:eyes:

[Javaman]

17. um, right...

Well anyway, if exxon is any model to work from, it will certainly be tied up in the courts from now until forever.

And if Obama does try to put the hammer down on BP, it will vanish as soon as he is out of office and a repuke is in his place.

huge portions of the gulf are already dead zones due to fertilizer run off, but where are the lawsuits and fishing bans because of that?

this will be tied up in red tape court forever.

eventually, the "fine" will be whittled down to virtually nothing.

I can bet you, right now, BP's lawyers are consulting with Exxon's.

Be prepared now for the excess spin and rebranding of BP, followed by a paltry amount of "good will" in the example of "helping out the fishermen" in some vein.

Then as the story is shuffled out of the headlines, the "good will" will vanish, the PR machine will go into overdrive using thinly based "evidence" that BP is "fixing" things in the gulf.

All the while, the lawyers will be screaming back and forth over what this or that costs.

What is the price of one birds life? What is the cost of clean up for a square foot of marshland? What is the economic impact to the average fisherman?

Numbers will be thrown around. Some very high, some disgustingly low.

But in the end, some moron official will make some sort of proclamation, years from now, that "this settlement is fair for everyone involved!" aka, the lawyers are happy with their payout and the corps can still go on with their person-hood intact while suffering not so much as a financial dent.

In the mean time, the people, remember them? They will have suffered mover poverty, more unemployment, vanishing industries while living in a toxic land that will cause god know what sort of ailments.

presidents will come and go, programs to fix things will be proposed, reproposed and then promptly vanish after the photo-ops.

In the mean time, the damage is done.

This is what will happen.

[O is 44]

4. The greedy bastards focus should be on figuring out how...

to stop the huge oil leak! No shame what so ever, so very maddening.

[DeSwiss]

6. K&R - BP needs taking out. n/t

[Endangered Specie]

8. I think any reasonable intelligent person could figure that if they are

offering you $5000 cash NOW to shut up, that you could potentially sue for ALOT MORE.

[JDPriestly]

9. I wonder whether contracts like that could possibly be enforceable

considering that the people signing them are under tremendous duress. Many of them have lost the means to earn a living -- this very week. They have mortgages. They probably owe money on their boats, credit cards, everything else.

This is just monstrous of BP. And in Alabama. The oil slick has not yet hit anything in Alabama, has it?

How are people supposed to measure the full extent of their losses at this point?

[aquart]

12. They ain't too big to fail. Take 'em out.

[Jennicut]

14. $5,000? For possibly ruining your livelihood?

Laughable. And disgusting. Hey, BP, there is an actual crisis going on. Might want to deal with that first before trying to take advantage of upset people.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Jefferson23]

18. UP to $5000 dollars? BP surpasses the description of unconscionable.

From Source Watch:

BP p.l.c., is a global oil, gas and chemicals company headquartered in Britain. In 2003 the company had revenues of $233 billion, with oil and gas exploration projects in 26 countries, production plants in 23 countries and owns 27,800 petrol stations. The company also owns 23 refineries and 32 chemical manufacturing plants around the world. <1>
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=BP


REVENUES OF 233 BILLION DOLLARS, and they have the balls to even make an offer like that? They must be scared shitless if they're
trying to settle this so quickly.

[gratuitous]

20. They did a study

And determined that most Alabamans regard $5,000 as "a lot of money." So why not give it a shot? And where are the Tea Baggers telling the Alabama AG to butt out? After all, if a bunch of scared, desperate people want to sell their lives to BP for $5,000, why shouldn't they be able to do that without the Nanny Staters stepping in to "protect" them? And, 10 years from now, with their health ruined and that five grand long gone, we can all bitch about how the government isn't doing anything for them.

Isn't this a jolly game?

[Jefferson23]

21. I don't care how uninformed they may be or not, most likely desperate

and afraid would be more accurate.

From the OP: Darren Beaudo, a spokesman for BP, said the waiver requirement had been stripped out, and that ones already signed would not be enforced.

"BP will not enforce any waivers that have been signed in connection with this activity," he wrote in an e-mail.

But King said late Sunday that he was still concerned that people would lose their right to sue by accepting settlements from BP of up to $5,000, as envisioned by the claim process BP has set up.

The attorney general said he is prohibited from giving legal advice to private citizens, but added that "people need to proceed with caution and understand the ramifications before signing something like that." (end)



The AG's job is to protect the citizens of his state, and I hope they listen to him. NO ONE has any good reason to trust BP.

[gratuitous]

22. Well, I didn't call them uninformed

Though they might be uninformed, on top of being scared and desperate. In any event, a very bad situation to be in when "negotiating" with a very wealthy, very lawyered, multi-national corporation.

Nice touch, though, for the BP spokesman to say that the company wouldn't enforce any of the waivers already signed. Yeah, I'd trust BP about as far as I could toss that sunken platform.

[Jefferson23]

23. Yep, and I give the AG a lot of credit here, as I said, I hope they listen to him.

[Dappleganger]

19. Cockroaches. nt