News reports say BP is delaying claim payments to avoid reports of “denials” of payments.
Apparently, BP officials are attempting to put off any denials of claims until the process is turned over to Kenneth Feinberg, the federally appointed administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund that the White House convinced BP to set aside.
BP’s strategy, experts say, is to make Feinberg take the blame for all the claim denials.
“They don’t deny them. They just hold them open forever,” said Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.
If BP continues to use stalling and delaying tactics to avoid paying legitimate claims, local lawyers say their clients will be forced to file their claims in court and sue BP for damages.
Lawyers at Pensacola-based Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz were among the first to file claims against BP, including a class action suit to recover lost profits for Gulf Coast commercial fishermen.
Feinberg is scheduled to address the public in Pensacola on Tuesday, August 10, at 11:30 a.m. at the Conference Center on the University of West Florida campus.