Cresskill, NJ: The two-year anniversary of the BP oil spill was marked by additional delays in the settlement of ongoing litigation and reports of new threats to the Gulf’s commercial fisheries industry. Florida’s Attorney General asked a federal court to delay granting preliminary approval of the settlement and U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans is lengthening the proposal review period. Meanwhile, area fishermen and researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) and Louisiana State University (LSU) are reporting mutated Gulf marine wildlife. This new threat to the beleaguered Gulf’s recovery is increasing pressure on already stressed commercial fishermen and local businesses. RD Legal Funding, LLC (“RD Legal”), a leading provider of lawsuit funding solutions, will offer settlement funding to plaintiffs and their attorneys as soon as their settlement amounts are determined.
A USF study released last summer found more sick fish in the area of the 2010 oil spill than in other areas. Scientists and commercial fishermen are describing shrimp and crabs without eyes, crabs with their shells soft instead of hard, full grown crabs that are one-fifth their normal size, clawless crabs, and crabs with shells that don't have their usual spikes. Damaged immune systems are being held responsible for the stranding of more than 600 dolphins along Gulf beaches since the spill, ten times the normal number for some areas. LSU oceanography professor James Cowan points to chronic exposure to oil and dispersant impacting Gulf marine wildlife’s genomes and compromising immune systems.
BP’s Macondo well blew out on April 20th, 2010, triggering the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, the deaths of 11 rig workers, and a gusher that released more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history.
BP funded the Gulf Coast Claims Facility with $20 billion to compensate businesses that suffered disaster-related economic damages. More than 221,000 claims were processed for over $6 billion.
On March 2nd, 2012 BP agreed to settle additional lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick, and others. A court-supervised administrator took over the claims process on March 8th, 2012. BP and plaintiffs' attorneys presented a federal judge with the formal terms of a proposed class-action settlement to resolve these lawsuits on April 14th, 2012.
Concerned that Florida claimants not residing in Florida’s Panhandle and west coast might be excluded from the settlement, Florida Attorney General Pamela Jo Bondi requested that New Orleans U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier delay preliminary approval of the settlement.
Attorneys representing plaintiffs in the BP Oil Spill Litigation, as well as plaintiffs themselves, should contact RD Legal at 1-800-565-5177 for more information about settlement funding solutions. Interim lawsuit settlement funding does not require any kind of payments until the settlement is paid; there are no monthly interest or principal payments, no upfront points or fees. Once the necessary documentation is received, RD Legal can wire funds within days. RD Legal provides personalized service and quick turnaround.
Founded in 1997, RD Legal has established itself as one of the nation's leading providers of post settlement funding to attorneys and plaintiffs. Contact RD Legal at 1-800-565-5177 to speak with a settlement funding expert, or visit http://www.legalfunding.com.
SOURCES:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/usf-study-finds-more-sick-fish-in-oil-spill-area-than-rest-of-gulf-of/1210495
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57415781/judge-asked-to-sign-off-on-bp-spill-settlement/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/plaintiffs-steering-committee-and-bp-finalize-settlement-2012-04-18
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2012/04/16/243614.htm
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/DG/20120415/NEWS01/204150348/Settling-up-Big-Oil
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/13/us-bp-settlement-florida-idUSBRE83C1K720120413
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57415781/judge-asked-to-sign-off-on-bp-spill-settlement/
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html
