U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled on Wednesday the Gulf Coast businesses won’t have to payback the claims BP paid them as the result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
BP argued that a flawed funding formula enabled businesses to collect on what its attorneys described as “questionable” claims. The British oil giant wanted the money, which they claim is hundreds of millions of dollars, be returned.
Several weeks ago, Judge Barbier had agreed to change the formula for any future payments. However, he ruled yesterday that BP cannot renege on its original deal – in which the claimants agreed not to sue the oil company and BP agreed that no future court action could change their payments.
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