Oil spill claims tsar Ken Feinberg takes control of BP’s $20bn fund
Obama’s former pay tsar Kenneth Feinberg
BP’s $20bn (£12.9bn) compensation and clean-up fund officially opened for business on Monday as Ken Feinberg, the man in charge of the process, said he was behind a decision to limit successful claimants from suing the British oil giant.
Mr Feinberg, who is administering the new Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), took responsibility for the controls on the rights of claimants, after the company was initially criticised for the decision.
President Barack Obama’s former pay tsar took over the process from BP, which had been handling the flood of claims since the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
He told the US Congress last week that his aim was to stop people who feel they have been hurt financially by the spill from “going to court”.
“I want people coming to the fund. Why should a claimant spend five years in court… and owe money to a lawyer rather than come into the Gulf Coast claims facility?” Mr Feinberg told a US House of Representatives’ committee.