BP Oil Spill Fund's Final Phase

John Schwartz of the New York Times has an article in this morning's paper detailing the final settlement phase of the BP Oil Spill.  The claims handling process includes a three-year program that requires anyone who agrees to a final settlement to give up the right to sue BP and other companies involved with the spill.  Although the claims process is much quicker and, on the whole, has far fewer transaction costs than traditional litigation, we don't yet know what kind of long-term health effects the spill will have.    As was the case in asbestos, it's hard to predict what the latent health effects might be.

Of note in the article is a link to the 12-page document laying out the claims process as well as a 48-page memo by John Goldberg (Harvard), which argues that claims from people and businesses near the beaches but not directly affected by the spill would not be entitled to recover through the traditional litigation process.

ECB