A recent NOLA.com story by Katherine Sayre, “BP Oil Spill: Two Louisiana Firms To Receive $87 Million Each in Attorney Fees,” reports that two law firms in New Orleans and Lafayette that led the massive BP oil spill litigation are set to receive $87.8 million each under a proposed division of about $680 million in class action attorney fees, according to a court filing this week.

The complex case over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and ensuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico involved a two-phase trial with expert testimony and settlement negotiations over several years.  The case consolidated individual economic and medical claims and state government claims from across the country to U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

BP, owner of the failed Macondo well, Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, and Halliburton, which was in charge of pouring cement at the well, have agreed to pay the plaintiffs' attorney fees.

A proposed split of about $680 million -- not including reimbursed expenses -- was filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans this week.  The two firms getting the biggest chunk of the award are Herman, Herman & Katz of New Orleans and Domengeaux, Wright, Roy & Edwards of Lafayette with $87.8 million each.  Cunningham Bounds of Mobile, Alabama, and Weitz & Luxenberg of New York are set to receive about $42 million each.  Nearly two dozen firms based in New Orleans are proposed to get a combined $243 million.

The fee committee, made up of six of the plaintiffs' attorneys, reviewed requests from the dozens of law firms involved in the case and conducted 74 interviews over 12 days before making their recommendation, according to the proposal filing.  "The fee committee felt confident that a minimum of 518,250 hours were reasonably expended through the end of 2015 for the common benefit of class members and others affected by the Deepwater Horizon incident," the filing says.  BP agreed to pay about $555 million in attorneys fees; Transocean and Halliburton agreed to about $124 million.

For Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards of Lafayette, the case "required full-time devotion and pre-occupation with substantial personal and professional sacrifice (among other things effectively relocating to New Orleans for approximately three years)," the proposed allocation says.

In October, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who has overseen the seven-year-old case, wrote that the multi-district litigation "would appear to be one of the largest, if not the largest, MDL in history."  "Over 130,000 individual civil actions and/or claims-in-limitation were filed by private businesses, individuals, and local governments," Barbier wrote.  "Yet even greater than its sheer size was the MDL's complexity."  The proposed allocation must be reviewed by John Perry, appointed special master over fees for the case, and Barbier.

In April 2016, Barbier approved a $20 billion settlement for BP to pay out to state and local government claims and Clean Water Act violation fines.  BP is expected to pay an estimated $13 billion in economic and medical claims to individuals and businesses.