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Plaintiffs' Fees in BP Oil Spill Litigation...So Far

August 19, 2014 | Posted in : Fee Award, Fee Request

A recent Texas Lawyer story, “BP Oil Spill Litigation: How Much Has BP Paid Plaintiffs Lawyers So Far?,” reports that the BP oil spill litigation remains far from resolved and final, and the same is true of the plaintiffs lawyers’ fees, despite earlier expectations for a $600 million fee award.  So far, the plaintiffs steering committee (PSC) counsel and other lawyers representing the class have “sought and received” less than 6 percent of the $600 million maximum in fees previously agreed upon, according to an Aug. 13 email from Geoff Morrell, a senior vice president for BP’s U.S.-based subsidiary.  Specifically, Morrell’s statement said that the lawyers have been paid nearly $30 million and have made an additional fee request for $1.8 million.

More than two years ago, on April 18, 2012, BP and the PSC stated in a joint memorandum filed in the multidistrict litigation that “class counsel would seek an interim fee award of $75 million.  Additional interim payments equivalent to 6 percent of class claims would be paid quarterly, and the fee award would not exceed a total of $600 million under any circumstances.”

But since then, BP has appealed the proposed settlement.  Most recently, on Aug. 1, it filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court.  With that petition, BP seeks a hearing to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling approving the settlement.  In its petition, BP argues that the settlement is “inappropriate,” since “many members of the class have not been injured by the defendant.”

For their part, two members of the executive committee of the PSC, Stephen Herman and James Roy stated in emails that they had not yet received any scheduled payments.  Asked about the potential consequences to their fees as a result of BP’s cert petition, Herman, a partner in New Orleans’ Herman Herman & Katz, and Roy, a senior partner in Lafayette, Louisiana’s Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards, wrote: “All we are focused on right now is getting claimants what they are owed under the settlement.”