Justice delayed

Defendants in oil spill litigation want claims for economic damage to be dismissed

BP attorney Andy Langan told the court that the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 is very clear: anyone harmed by the spill must present a claim to the responsible party, and that claim must be denied before an aggrieved party can sue in court. "They're not supposed to be in court right now," Langan said of the more than 100,000 individuals who have filed claims in the litigation because of economic losses they suffered.

Langan said the claims should be dismissed, but that they should be dismissed with prejudice so that aggrieved parties have the option of coming back into court and filing a claim if the Gulf Coast Claims Facility can't solve their problems. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility is the entity supervised by Kenneth Feinberg that is handing out $20 billion from BP to those who suffered losses as a result of last year's oil spill.

Gonna go out on a limb and say Feinberg won't "solve their problems."