Problems Seen in Process for BP Oil Spill Fund

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Source: The New York Times

Kenneth R. Feinberg spent part of his summer barnstorming towns near the Gulf of Mexico, urging people who felt they had suffered financial hardship because of the oil spill to apply for a share of the $20 billion BP fund he was overseeing. The point of the fund was to pay claims rather than litigate them in court.

“It’s my opinion you are crazy if you don’t participate,” Mr. Feinberg told a crowd at one stop in Louisiana.

And participate they did. Mr. Feinberg has seen applications that could bring a tear to the eye.

Others are likelier to raise eyebrows.

Take the businessman who explained that his part of the $20 billion fund should be ... $20 billion. His income last year? Fifty thousand dollars.

A restaurant worker asked for $5.9 million in emergency payments, even though his earnings before the spill were just $18,000.

And then there are the 4,000 claims, using a one-page form letter, that flooded in from Plaquemines Parish a couple of weeks ago, some hand delivered to local claims offices.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03feinberg.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all