In a very predictable outcome, claims from all 50 states have now been made against BP (NYSE:BP) and their escrow fund administered by Kenneth Feinberg.
Everyone's trying to get their hand in the cookie jar before the $20 billion runs out, although only about $5 billion a year will be available over the next four years.
Feinberg said last Friday in an interview, that "The farther away you are from the Gulf and the Gulf shore the less likely it is that you will have a valid claim. But I will take a look at each claim.”
The problem from this type of greed is it delays payment to those who are real victims of the oil spill.
So far over 142,000 claims have been made representing all the states in the nation.
The compensation fund is set up to deal with victims of the oil spill who are close to the disaster. Those further away will either be denied, or go a different route to deal with the issue.
One problem is Feinberg announced the ease of terms and generosity he was going to employ in operating the fund, inviting all the cons and opportunists to come out of the woodwork.
Parameters that will help deal with that, for example, are in the case of hotels. If a hotel is further inland than 50 miles, there is little chance they'll receive compensation from the fund, according to Feinberg.
It's possible even with the opportunists, the number of claims may not be as high as thought, as natural cleansing properties of the Gulf, along with evaporation, made the amount actually left in the area far below what it was thought it would be.
Feinberg said concerning that he'll just have to "wait and see."
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