Article
BP wins reprieve over Gulf spill payouts: U.S. appeals court
BP Plc won a legal reprieve in its effort to force the administrator of a settlement related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to tighten standards in assessing claims, potentially sparing the oil company billions of dollars of extra costs. A divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday directed U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier…to take a fresh look at which claims are legitimate…[and] to halt payments on those claims that don't meet stricter standards…The 5th Circuit said Barbier should issue a narrower injunction to allow recoveries by claimants with "actual injury" from the spill, and not punish BP and its shareholders by allowing potentially "hundreds of millions of dollars of unrecoverable awards."…