A Statement From Patrick Juneau, The New Court Appointed Claims Administrator
May 2, 2012
The Economic and Property Damages Settlement Agreement for the Deepwater Horizon incident was granted preliminary approval today by Honorable Carl Barbier of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Order is available in its entirety by clicking here.
Patrick Juneau
Claims Administrator of the Proposed Court Supervised Settlement Program
New Orleans, LA
Welcome to The Gulf Coast Claims Facility Website
On March 8, 2012, the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana issued a First Amended Order Creating Transition Process (the “Order”) in connection with an Agreement-in-Principle between BP Exploration and Production, Inc. and BP America Production Company (collectively, “BP”) and the Interim Class Counsel (collectively, the “Parties”) to settle numerous lawsuits arising out of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (the “Oil Spill”). The Order created a Transition Process and appointed a Transition Coordinator, Lynn Greer, to facilitate and oversee the evaluation and payment of pending Gulf Coast Claims Facility (“GCCF”) claims until such time that a Court Supervised Claims Program commences under the terms of a proposed settlement. The Order also appointed a Claims Administrator, Patrick Juneau, who will oversee the Transition Coordinator and the Transition Process, as well as the Court Supervised Claims Program, once it opens, upon approval of the Court. (To view the Court’s March 8, 2012 First Amended Order Creating Transition Process, Click Here.)
If you currently have a claim pending with the GCCF, it will continue to be reviewed under the existing GCCF rules, with certain modifications as ordered by the Court. Accordingly, payments will continue to be issued during the Transition Process, with certain modifications. You may also continue to send new claims to the GCCF for evaluation. Please be sure to check your claims status frequently as updates will be made to your claims status page.
To view new Frequently Asked Questions, Click Here. If you have additional questions, the toll-free help line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and live operators are available from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), Monday through Friday. Telephone: Toll free: 1-800-916-4893. For TTY assistance, please call: 1-866-682-1758.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
EXTENSION OF DEADLINE UNTIL JUNE 11, 2012 TO ACCEPT QUICK PAYMENT OFFER
May 2, 2012
On May 2, 2012, the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (the “Court”) issued an Order extending the deadline for eligible claimants to accept Quick Payment offers from May 7, 2012 until June 11, 2012. To view a copy of the Court’s Order, Click Here.
By accepting a Quick Payment offer, you will release and forever discharge ALL claims (except claims for Physical Injury or Death). You will NOT be able to pursue any further claims (except claims for Physical Injury or Death), in the Court-Supervised Settlement Program, or the GCCF, or against Transocean, Halliburton, or any other party, or the MDL, or any other claims process or litigation. You will also waive your right to submit your claim to the National Pollution Funds Center ("NPFC"), the Coast Guard office responsible for evaluating and approving OPA claims, any such claim being completely resolved by accepting this offer.
For additional information regarding Quick Payment Final Claims, please see Section 4 of the Frequently Asked Questions, by clicking here.
TRANSITION PROCESS STATISTICS
As of May 11, 2012, over $282 million has been paid during the Transition Process. For additional Transition Process Statistics, Click Here.
RECONCILIATION PAYMENTS AND DETERMINATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DOJ AUDIT OF THE GCCF
April 20, 2012
The GCCF has been working with an accounting firm on an evaluation of GCCF operations as directed by the Department of Justice. As part of that evaluation, the GCCF has re-reviewed groups of claims to ensure that they were fully processed in accordance with the rules governing eligibility for payment and for calculating the amount of payments. As a result of these reviews, the GCCF determined that a total of 7,292 claimants who had received previous payments or who have not been paid before now are due either additional payments or Final Payment Offers not issued previously.
The GCCF began issuing these payments and Determination Letters to the affected claimants on April 4, 2012. If you were among the claimants who were to receive a payment or Determination Letter, you should have already received it.