A better picture of the liabilities will be seen when the Gulf states given their bills to BP (NYSE:BP), which appears to be sometime in the near future.
Most are negotiating with BP over the final tally, but Alabama Attorney General Troy King went against the wishes of Governor Riley and sued BP. There's still a cloud hanging over his reasoning, as all other states are working with BP in an attempt to come to an agreement.
King attempted to justify his misguided actions by saying BP had a "record of not living up to their commitments." He oddly added, that if BP won't "pay Alabama what it owes, a court will force you to do it."
It's odd because the governor was making progress with BP and wasn't concerned over whether or not they'd pay. Now the state suffers from it.
Other states would prefer to go the route of making a deal with BP too, as the cost and time of going through a trial would be immense, and by time the litigation was over, the present need for the money would be gone.
But the states have said if they aren't able to reach an agreement with BP, they would go the legal route if all else failed.
BP spokesman Scott Dean said, "BP remains committed to paying all legitimate government claims. We have already made more than $1 billion in government payments."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment