BP Keen on $7.8-billion Oil Spill Settlement

Bloomberg reported that BP plc (LSE:BP) is pushing a federal judge to okay a $7.8-billion settlement for owners of homes and businesses who sued the company for the economic damage they incurred after the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

As quoted in the market news:

“The settlement will bring full compensation to all class members, including those on the Gulf Coast, while resolving a major component of the Deepwater Horizon litigation,” BP lawyers said yesterday in an after-hours filing in New Orleans. “The alternative is all-out litigation that would last many years and have an uncertain outcome for class members.”

Lawyers representing more than 13,000 spill victims have attacked the settlement, BP said in the filing. Fewer than 1,000 claimants have formally opted out of the deal so far, BP said. The objectors represent “only a small fraction of the total class members,” the company said.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.