First, BP approached the Plaintiff's Steering Committee (PSC), appointed by the judge, to represent all victims of this disaster to the extent that it was their job to fight to prove BP, Haliburton, and Trans Ocean liable.
I will try to keep this short, but 2010, when everyone was starting to call the Gulf oil spill "Obama's Katrina before the 2010, mid-terms, BP did a deal with Obama where he would bless a 20 billion dollar fund (never was 20 billion in it, they had to deposit 1.2 billion a quarter.); put the Coast Guard underneath BP's command (they sprayed the Corexit from C130's, mostly at night to sink the oil out of sight to avoid the fines and media), and recognize Ken Feinberg, BP's hand-picked settlement con-artist as "Independant" to settle the claims. Also, he agreed not to prosecute any BP big shots for criminal violations. Obama agreed and posed for the phot op. The media moved on before the mid-terms, but it did not help Democrats.
Feinberg told everyone they didn't need a lawyer, he was Independant, we would just be taking their money. His Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) asked for every document under the sun and then began u derpaying claims as soon as the media left. Feinberg was later found by the judge to have always been BP's agent, but was never punished for the false representations
When the GCCF finally started to resolve claims BP complained they were paying out too much and would have to lower their dividend payments even thought the 1.2 billion per quarter would be gone in two weeks and victims would have to wait 3 months for more money. Most businesses failed waiting for payment, more people lost houses, jobs and their sanity while BP kept paying big bonuses to executives.
BP approached the PSC and wanted their trial against Haliburton and Trans Ocean continued and to be rid of the GCCF to slow payments and avoid payments better. They told the PSC they would pay them up to $600,000,000 in attorney's fees and case expenses if they agreed to get the judge to 1. Continue the trial; 2. Cease all settlement talks and fire Feinberg; and 3. Agree to a Class Action Settlement that eliminated well over half of the victims, and for the ones who qualified and filed timely, 75% of those would be denied any compensation as well.
The catch was that the PSC could only get the $600,000,000 if the deal survived all appeals without being overturned. Another catch was of the number of victims opting out of the class settlement. If too many victims opted out, BP reserved the right to withdraw from the settlement and the PSC would get none of the $600,000,000. This percentage of opt outs was under seal and secret. Once in the class you cannot get out if you change your mind. You are also automatically in the class if you do nothing or don't opt out by the deadline. The settlement was 1,300 pages long.
When we attempted to opt out all of our clients, the judge ruled we could not, the clients had to do it themselves (the PSC members were his friends he appointed). When we were still able to opt out a large number of clients from this horrible deal the judge sent letters to the opted out clients advising them he extended the "opt in" deadline and to fill out an enclosed form and mail it in the self addressed stamped envelop back to the court. He did not tell the clients lawyers he was doing this so many opted in because they thought they were supposed to.
Most victims in the class are still waiting for any money and they will not see anything.
The cases we opted out and filed suit on in other jurisdictions were all sent to the court in New Orleans with the others where they have sat for the last 5 years with the attorneys not allowed to do anything on them. We have asked the court to send them back to the courts where they were originally filed and he said no, though no reason exists to keep them.
The Federal government and the state's just settled and we asked that they be made to wait til the other victim's claims were resolved and were told no.
Only BERNIE SANDERS is fighting against this type of corruption! His fight for Publicly Funded Elections would attack the root of the problem that enables big companies like BP to get everything they want at our expense. Ed Schultz aired a weeks worth of stories and came out for Bernie and within a couple of months was gone! The time is now we MUST DO SOMETHING!!! The Gulf of Mexico is ruined with the Corexit poisoning and sterilizing the sea life for the next several thousand years. The oil is all on the bottom of the Gulf for several thousand square miles!
I know all this is true because I have lived every minute of this and will not stop fighting until it is over. Too bad most victims are victimized again by our corrupt system where a foreign corporation can screw up royally and Americans have pay for it!
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