In the case of Deepwater Horizon oil spill BP has accelerated its process of approving payments for commercial claims. BP said it approved initial payments toward 90 percent of commercial large-loss claims that have been filed as a result the ongoing oil disaster. According to BP it approved payment of 337 checks for a total of $16 million to businesses that have filed claims in excess of $5,000.
But the tow law firms from Miami representing fishermen claimed that the company’s claim forms are flawed. The two firms, Grossman Roth, P.A. and Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP, began representing 600 fishermen from the Florida Keys Commercial Fisherman’s Association. Andy Yaffa of Grossman Roth said that the claim form that BP put on its website is inadequate under the federal Oil Pollution Act. Yaffa said that the act requires a detailed 90-day process, but “the offices BP set up are not following it.”
He informed that there’s no way anyone can provide a sum certain yet, because the oil could be here for years and have permanent impact on livelihood. Yaffa said Keys fishermen have been swarmed by attorneys looking to represent them against BP, and some of those offers come with possibly improper fees drawn out of claims payments.
Grossman’s firm has been an organizer of the annual Sabadell United Keymorada Invitational Fly-Spin Tournament, benefiting the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. As for early lawsuits already filed by fishermen in the Keys, he said some attorneys are filing litigation early to influence where the main consolidated lawsuits against BP are heard.
