BP Appeals Hearing: Joe Rice comments on 5th Circuit hearing
Last month, BP started a paid advertising publicity and direct letter campaign to attorneys and claimants in response to its ongoing dispute with the Court over the interpretation of the Business Economic Loss calculation procedures included in the Economic and Property Damages Class Action Settlement. A settlement that was agreed upon by BP and the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC) for the BP Deepwater Horizon litigation.
On July 8, 2013, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard BP’s argument regarding how claims filed by businesses for economic losses are being processed and paid. In response to this hearing, Joe Rice, Motley Rice co-founding member and a lead negotiator of the Settlement said, “Ted Olson, counsel for BP, made it clear to the Court that BP was not appealing the claims administrator’s application of the causation test. What became clear in the hearing was that BP is attempting to take words from the final, agreed upon Settlement and create an argument. One that does not exist under the plain reading of the contractual agreement.”
Listen to the full audio of the appeals hearing.
Rice also spoke with the Houston Chronicle and Bloomberg about BP’s estimated $7.8 billion figure, stating, “There was no basis for it.”
Read the letter Rice sent to Motley Rice BP claimant clients referenced in the Bloomberg article.
Read the July 9, 2013, message from Class Counsel, "The Truth about the BP Settlement."