Judge Concerned BP Claimants Not Getting Answers From Kenneth Feinberg

Posted in BP British Petroleum,Deepwater Horizon,Environment,Government,Gulf Coast,Jones Act,Louisiana Maritime News,Maritime Law,Maritime Lawsuits,World Maritime News on January 31, 2011

NEW ORLEANS, La. – U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier told a BP attorney that he heard claimants who submitted their  paperwork through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, overseen BP-appointed claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg, are not getting answers. The claims process was established, in part, for those who would rather not litigate.

Judge Barbier was chosen in August to oversee the bulk of oil spill claims in New Orleans Federal Court as part of a consolidated multi-district litigation.

Judge Barbier said the complaints he has heard don’t have to do so much with denied claims as with claimants simply not getting answers. Barbier said again that he wondered about a time frame during which claimants could expect to hear back from Feinberg.

Haycraft responded: “I read the newspaper as well, and from what I understand, thousands of people are being paid.”

During a closed meeting Friday with a select audience in St. Bernard Parish, just outside New Orleans, Feinberg reportedly “he has become accustomed to ‘walking into the lion’s den'” when he holds public meetings, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

BP attorney Don Haycraft assured the judge that Feinberg has said that claims protocols will “expand and improve.”

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