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Sept 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court will hold anexpedited hearing for a small group of claimants in a Gulf spillsettlement with BP Plc, with oral arguments set for theweek of Nov. 4, the court said on Friday.
BP's settlement with individuals and businesses affected bythe 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico was appealed with the U.S.Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by certain claimants whoargue it was not favorable enough to them. BP estimates thetotal cost of all payouts in that deal will end up being $9.6billion, but the figure is uncapped, and expected to grow.
BP had launched its own separate appeal with the New Orleansappeals court over how the business economic claims were beingpaid out under the settlement. Oral arguments in that case wereheard on July 8, and a ruling is still awaited.
In a filing this week, lawyers who negotiated the deal forthe plaintiffs said that while more than 200,000 members of theclass had filed claims in the court-supervised settlementprogram, only five groups of objectors filed appellate briefs.
The appeals effort is running alongside the main case onliability and damages for the 2010 disaster, which is beingheard by Judge Carl Barbier and due to start up again at the endof this month. That case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig"Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010,U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, No.10-md-02179.
The expedited appeals case is "Lake Eugenie Land &Development Inc, et al. vs BP Exploration & Production Inc etal." No. 13-30095, while BP's appeal is "BP Exploration &Production Inc et al. vs Lake Eugenie Land & Development Inc, etal." No. 13-30329. Both are in the U.S. Court of Appeals for theFifth Circuit.
