BP (NYSE:BP) Pays $767 Million to Florida So Far

So far in the state of Florida alone, BP (NYSE:BP) has paid out $767 million to individuals, businesses and governments, according to the energy giant.

BP said in a statement, "Of the $767 million BP has paid so far in the state of Florida, $577 million has gone directly to business and individuals through the claims process.

"The next largest amount, nearly $72 million, has gone to those working in the Vessels of Opportunity Program, [a program that] put fisherman and captains to work over the summer helping with oil recovery."

Other major payments made to Florida included that granted to tourism, where "$32 million has gone to help Florida's tourism industry. Several Panhandle communities used the tourism grants to put on weekend festivals. Most recently, Pensacola Beach hosted the De Luna Festival, which was extended a third day because of BP funding," added BP.

Claims continue to be made in Florida, and other Gulf states over the oil spill disaster.

Government Parasites Seeking BP (NYSE:BP) Fund Money

An increasing number of parasitical government entities are seeking to use the BP (NYSE:BP) escrow fund as a means to make up for budget shortfalls, rather than shrinking the size of government to manageable levels.

One such entity is Santa Rosa County School district, which may attempt to, along with other schools, prepare what are called Request For Proposals (RFP) to present to attorneys to see if any are interested in representing them on a contingency basis.

One wise member of the school board, Ed Gray III, suggested it's very questionable as to whether or not the Santa Rosa School District had in fact been damaged from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Gray said, “Everyone knows Escambia County took a big hit all the way around, and they have a claim, probably, for their school district. But as far as the other counties, I am not sure they were damaged to the point of needing to file a claim.

“The major impact to us will probably be in sales tax revenues. Our financial officer has told us the sales tax revenues we have received so far are about the same as last year.”

So in a period of ongoing recession, sales tax revenues are the same, which implies poor management on the part of the county in controlling costs.

With that being the reality, it's strange to see them think they can apply for BP funds when they haven't done any damage to the county.

Maybe they should focus on limited government and reducing taxes to spur economic growth, rather than new ways of siphoning money from the BP fund and those who really were hurt by the oil spill.

BP (NYSE:BP) Pays $18.7 Million to Omega Protein (NYSE:OME) for Gulf Damages

BP (NYSE:BP) paid out via its Gulf Coast Claims Facility $18.7 Million to Omega Protein (NYSE:OME), and Omega said the should get paid more as the claims process works its way out.

Omega Protein sells fish meal and fish oil products in the United States which it derives from menhaden, a wild herring species found in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as on the Atlantic coast.

They filed their claim against BP based on a smaller catch of fish in the Gulf and the resultant loss of revenue and earnings.

Omega closed Wednesday at $6.13, gaining $0.24, or 4.07 percent.

BP (NYSE:BP) Assets in Gulf Collateral for Compensation Fund

BP (NYSE:BP) said they'll back up their $20 billion claims fund by using assets in the Gulf of Mexico as collateral. The fund is being used to pay for legitimate claims from damage arising from the oil spill.

Included in the collateral are oil and gas production at a variety of Gulf projects, including Mad Dog, Thunder Horse, Atlantis, Great White, Na Kika, Mars and Ursa.

The above include royalty interest in the oil and gas production.

Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America Inc. and BP's Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, said, "The pledging of these assets underscores our commitments to the trust which we set up to pay all legitimate claims arising from the tragedy."

The fund is expected to continue paying out over a four-year period to claimants.

BP (NYSE:BP) Paying Feinberg and Firm Cool $850,000 Monthly to Run Compensation Fund

In an effort to be more transparent, Kenneth Feinberg revealed the payment he and his firm - Feinberg Rozen LLP - are receiving from BP (NYSE:BP) to run the $20 billion compensation fund to pay victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Feinberg said the firm is being paid $850,000 monthly to manage the claims portion of the fund, which started when he accepted the job in the middle of June.

At this time Feinberg hasn't disclosed what he personally is getting for running the fund, but that doesn't seem to be relevant; how could it be?

Someone has to run the fund. And unless someone is going to donate several years of their life for nothing to run it, they're going to get paid for it. Already there's heavy pressure on Feinberg and his team to make things run smoother and quicker, and he's taken a lot of abuse from meetings around the Gulf region with victims waiting for their money.

There's also the fraud factor, which has in fact been one of the major impediments to running the claims process quicker, and this is coming from those who have legitimate claims, but are inflating them to extraordinary levels, which all causes the need to examine documents more closely, if there are any documents at all.

In other words, a lot of the alleged public outcry is manufactured by many who are trying to game the system and are angry their attempts aren't successful.

The implication that Feinberg and his team work for BP means something negative simply makes no sense. It doesn't matter who would've been chosen to run the claims process, they were going to get paid. How is that an issue? How is it even a story?

As far as the compensation to the firm, the $850,000 monthly payment will continue through 2010, and then will be reviewed at that time to make decisions on a contract going forward.

The fund is scheduled to operational for four years.

BP (NYSE:BP) Compensation Fund Slowed by Fraud

The BP (NYSE:BP) compensation fund, which the claimant portion is administered by Kenneth Feinberg, has been demonized because of the alleged slow payments and amounts being handed out.

As the story emerges though, the frustration, while in many cases is legitimate, has been worsened by many who are attempting to game the system by getting paid much more than actual damages, and in many cases, some who don't qualify for damages at all.

That more than anything has been the reason for the slow process, and because there are legitimate claims suffering as a result, makes it hard for Feinberg to defend, because it gives the appearance of not paying out what is owed for legitimate claims.

Major problems in getting the fund to move faster, as mentioned, are outright fraud, requests for money far beyond damages, and absolutely no proof of suffering losses at all.

What would probably stem a lot of this is for the Justice Department or law enforcement to step in and arrest and charge some of those commiting the fraud in order to get the process moving forward.

There are some legitimate complaints related to the fund, but most of them come from those trying to get money they don't deserve, and worse, clogging up the system because of the time it takes to confirm one way or the other if they qualify.

The enormity of the fraud has caused Feinberg and his team to have to check closely in order to make determinations. That's a good thing in the sense of having enough money to pay for legitimate claims.

If Feinberg were to allow the outrageous claims to go forward, it would result in BP paying out damages to those who weren't harmed by the consequences of the oil spill, and also cause them to pay far more than they would have had to.

Someone needs to step in and let those making fraudulent claims know they are being watched and could go to jail for what amounts to theft.

BP (NYSE:BP) Offers Gulf Assets as Collateral for Escrow Fund

BP (NYSE:BP) said today its assets in the Gulf of Mexico will used as collateral for the $20 billion escrow fund set aside to pay for claims.

The total costs for the oil giant so far are $11.2 billion, with $806 million paid out in over 44,000 claims from businesses and individuals hurt from the oil spill.

Part of the collateral for the fund will include royalty interest from oil and gas production from projects in the region, including Na Kika, Mars, Mad Dog and Thunder Horse, among others.

Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America Inc. said, “The pledging of these assets underscores our commitments to the trust which we set up to pay all legitimate claims arising from the tragedy.”

The assets were offered as collateral because of the uncertainty of oil prices holding strong. New CEO Bob Dudley said if oil prices hold, the company should continue to perform strongly and shouldn't have any problems meeting obligations.

If oil prices do fall, the collateral would be in place to back up any shortfall.

Dudley is confident enough to believe there shouldn't be a problem in bringing the dividend back to shareholders soon, although that is a decision of the board of directors of the company.

BP (NYSE:BP) Fund Administrator Feinberg Says Cleanup Wages Won't be Deducted

Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the BP (NYSE:BP) compensation fund, said he'll waive the previous requirement for those making claims to the fund of deducting wages earned from BP by helping with the oil spill cleanup.

This has been a point of contention for some time, and it seemed at the beginning there would be no concession at all, but the growing antagonism toward Feinberg and the slow pace of the fund may have had a part in Feinberg's decision.

According to Feinberg, fisherman will be specifically helped by the decision, who helped with the cleanup when they weren't able to fish.

So far the fund has paid out over $240 million on 68,000 claims.

Lawyers Pushing for Quicker BP (NYSE:BP) Trials

In court filings today, lawyers for alleged victims of the BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill said the first test-case trials should begin in about a year.

Lawyers have been seeking quicker trials for the claimants, while BP and others like Transocean (NYSE:RIG) have wanted to wait to see what happens with the compensation fund, which claims portion is headed by Kenneth Feinberg.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, who is presiding over the trials, was told by lawyers pretrial exchanges of information should begin in October.

BP pushed back saying in it's filing that it's premature at this time to demand early trials, saying it's "overly ambitious."

There are about 400 lawsuits related to the oil spill which Judge Barbier is overseeing.

BP (NYSE:BP), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Say Gulf Victims Have No Right to Sue Yet

In a filing with the court, BP (NYSE:BP), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and Transocean (NYSE:RIG) say the numerous individuals and businesses may not have the right to sue the companies yet over the Gulf oil spill.

According to the court papers, BP and the others said they believe the alleged victims should have to take their claims to the $20 billion compensation fund before bringing a lawsuit against them.

Obviously the strategy of the oil companies is to push the lawsuits toward the escrow fund to deal with the matter in order to decrease the growing number of them.

Most of the types of lawsuits they're talking about are those where claims of economic losses are involved, especially workers and businesses.

The fund, administered by Kenneth Feinberg, would have 90 days to accept or reject a claim, which at that time the claimants could proceed with a lawsuit.

With things moving into the discovery stage and requests for documents and electronic communications being made, the oil companies said the question of the right to sue needs to be decided before they provide all the documentation to plaintiffs.

While the elimination of lawsuits looks like it's in the best interests of the oil companies, in truth, when you consider the fees by lawyers and amount of time it takes for many of these lawsuits to be played out, most of the alleged victims would be far better off taking the money from the escrow fund if they qualify, rather than pursuing lawsuits.

BP's (NYSE:BP) Bizarre Claims Czar Going to Cave in to Criticism?

It's one thing to attempt to improve the process to pay out claims to alleged victims of the BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill, it's another thing to pay compensation to people for money they've already received, which is what government claims czar Kenneth Feinberg is taking "under advisement."

This is the problem when someone from the government is appointed to oversee money.

The problem centers around claimants who say the money they were paid while working cleaning up the Gulf for BP shouldn't be subtracted from the claims they are seeking.

Feinberg responded, "I'm taking it under advisement. The last time I said, no way, I'm deducting it. Now, it's open for discussion."

It doesn't matter what the actual damage was to the claimants, since when do people get paid for work by a company and then not have it subtracted from claims? It's outrageous.

In other words, when they were getting paid to work, they weren't suffering from being victims of the situation. why would BP have to pay them, or why would Feinberg even say he's going to take it under advisement.

This isn't his money. And while he has authority to pay out legitimate claims, it's improbable he has a right to make these types of decisions, even though he seems to say he does.

Problems with the BP compensation fund aren't whether or not BP is going to have to pay without subtracting money they've already paid, the problem is the process is taking too slow, and alleged discrepancies in what is perceived as similar circumstances are what are making people the most angry.

What about the victims who didn't work for BP and are going to receive the same as those who did work for BP under similar circumstances. How could Feinberg justify paying more to those who already got paid and received compensation?

Hopefully Feinberg won't cave on this, and will hold to his guns. People aren't victims while they were getting paid. Any payment already made should be subtracted from the claims being made.

If they aren't, it's doubtful it would be even legal. That would be like someone getting paid to work, but then collecting unemployment at the same time, while others on unemployment only get the unemployment. This doesn't make any sense, and doing it to placate those attempting to game the system shouldn't be allowed, no matter how hard they scream.

They're playing the victim card too far here, as they weren't victims while they were getting paid to work. How hard is that to understand?

BP (NYSE:BP) Claimants: Take Your Money and Run

While the victims of the BP (NYSE:BP) spill are seemingly faced with a difficult decision to make, I don't think it's that hard: they should just take the claims money and run.

That's not necessarily true about large corporations or businesses in this case, who may benefit from lawsuits and have the money and time to wait things out.

But for individuals and small businesses, it makes little sense to file a lawsuit, hire lawyers, and wait for years in hopes of getting a bigger payout.

And even if they get a bigger payout, the amount will probably simply be transferred to the bank account of a law firm, so what value is there in that?

There's not that much money at stake for individuals and small businesses to make it worthwhile pursuing a bigger pay day, and the stress of going through years of litigation aren't worth it.

The opportunity to make that decision will start in November in relationship to the escrow fund, which is administered by Kenneth Feinberg on the claims side.