BP oil spill claims near the $2.5-billion mark

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), an arms-length administrator of claims related to the BP oil spill, has paid out almost $2.5 billion for just over 166,000 claims as of Dec. 13, 2010.
The claims followed an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, when BP’s Deepwater Horizon oilrig exploded and sank.
According to the GCCF’s December 2010 update, the spill has resulted in 465,912 claims thus far, about 166,000 of which have been processed for payouts. Almost all of the claims payouts have been for lost earnings or profits.
Out of the 43,116 business claims for lost earnings or profits that have been paid thus far, about 35% came from the retail sales and service industry and 27.54% came from the rental properties sector. A further 26.34% came from the fishing industry.
Out of the 123,073 individual claims paid thus far, 50,783 were for $5,000 or less. About 30,000 of them were worth between $10,000 and $25,000, and none were worth more than $500,000.
The GCCF is offering claimants who have already received an Emergency Advance Payment a “quick-pay” option, in addition to two other payment possibilities.
Emergency Advance Payments were paid out primarily for lost earnings or profits, as well as for removal and clean-up costs, property damage, loss of subsistence use of natural resources and physical injury or death.
Under the quick-pay option, individuals receive a final payout of $5,000 and companies receive a final payout of $25,000 within two weeks of submitting an application, with no further documentation required, if they agree to waive their right to sue BP.