[Tallahassee, FL] Florida’s Attorney General (FLAG) Pam Bondi has fought off the wolves (re: lawyers) on behalf of Florida residents and businesses who rightfully deserve money from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Bondi challenged – with several other AGs from states in the oil-spill affected zone – what appeared to be a bargained-for done deal which would have paid lawyers hundreds of millions from settlements that they did not even work on. They called it a “hold-back.”
“Each person who suffered financial harm as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill deserves full and fair compensation,” said Pam Bondi in her weekly email.
“That’s why last week I filed a brief in the multi-district oil-spill proceedings in New Orleans challenging a plan to take hundreds of millions of dollars from the individual and business claimants who have decided to pursue non-litigation recoveries through the claims process,” Bondi added.
And she used old school 1990s legislation to do it, specifically the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. That’s the same act that makes BP obligated – as the designated responsible party – to pay out such claims in the event of an oil-spill disaster.
“In response to my objections and those made by other attorneys general and the federal government … a federal judge reversed his decision to require a partial “hold-back” of oil spill claimants’ recoveries,” said Bondi. “The amended order ensures that Floridians who received compensation through the claims process do not end up picking up the tab for attorneys who never assisted them.”
Pam Bondi was defiant in the face of legal vultures looking to make bank on behalf of Florida’s oil-slicked sufferers and the citizens and business owners of the state of Florida will get 6% larger settlements in the end as a result.
“Claimants who followed Oil Pollution Act requirements by seeking compensation from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility without resorting to litigation should not be forced to pay for legal work from which they derived no benefit and that was performed on behalf of others,” said Bondi.
The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) is the official conduit for individuals and businesses to file claims related to the Deepwater Horizon Incident on April 20, 2010 (otherwise known as the BP oil spill). Kenneth R. Feinberg is the GCCF claims administrator. The famed federal “Equalizer” is acting on behalf of BP.
“I am committed to fighting for a fair and transparent Gulf Coast Claims Facility claims process,” she said.
By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate
Image: U.S. Coast Guard
Pam Bondi
