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* Patrick Juneau says acted properly, has immunity
* BP has called authorized payouts "absurd"
By Jonathan Stempel
April 1 (Reuters) - The administrator of BP Plc's settlement with thousands of people and businesses who sued overthe 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill urged a federal judge onMonday to end the company's lawsuit over how he determinesdamages claims.
BP had last month urged U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier inNew Orleans to issue an emergency order to stop court-appointedadministrator Patrick Juneau from paying out "absurd" amountsbased on inflated or fictitious claims.
The oil company originally expected the March 2012class-action settlement to resolve economic and health claims bymore than 100,000 individuals and businesses to cost $7.8billion.
But damages are not capped, and BP's estimate of the costgrew to $8.5 billion by year end. It said Juneau's methods givehim too much leeway to boost payouts, potentially by billions ofdollars, and make payments for damage that never took place.
In Monday court filings, lawyers for Juneau said he deservesjudicial immunity from being sued over his work, saying thisimmunity encourages "principled and fearless decision making"without the threat of interference from unhappy litigants.
The lawyers went on to say that even if Juneau were notentitled to this immunity, he was doing his job properly.
"Mr. Juneau, as the claims administrator and trustee,performed and continues to perform his official functionsexactly as outlined in the settlement agreement" and otherdocuments, Juneau's lawyers said.
A BP spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests forcomment.
Juneau's filings came as Barbier presides over a nonjurytrial that began six weeks ago to determine liability for theApril 20, 2010 rupture of the Macondo well and explosion of theDeepwater Horizon drilling rig.
The incident killed 11 people and triggered the worstoffshore oil spill in U.S. history.
BP has estimated that it could spend more than $42 billionto cover clean-up, fines and other liabilities. It has beenselling a variety of assets to help cover its costs.
As of April 1, more than 160,000 claims have been submittedunder the Deepwater Horizon Economic and Property DamagesSettlement, according to a website for the settlement.
About $1.82 billion of payments have been made on 26,580claims, the website said.
The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "DeepwaterHorizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, U.S. DistrictCourt, Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-md-02179.
