BP claims administrator Ken Feinberg said Wednesday that most of the claims being filed to compensate for oil spill damage have no documentation to back them up, a challenge he said must be overcome as he tries to distribute $20 billion in company-backed recovery funds.
“Of the roughly 175,000 claims that are sitting in the pipeline, about 110,000 of them are claims with zero documentation,” Feinberg told attendees at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform Summit in Washington, D.C. “Not inadequate documentation. No documentation. Nothing.”
In addition, Feinberg said thousands more claims are accompanied only by “woefully lacking” documentation, slowing payments to the frustration of claimants and fund backers alike.
“We will try to work with these claimants and try to get them paid,” said Feinberg, addressing an issue that is becoming increasingly contentious as frustration mounts among state officials in Florida.
Critics say Feinberg, who has administered funds for victims of 9-11 and the Virginia Tech shooting that killed 33, may not fully appreciate the unique character of Panhandle commerce, a cash-based system in which transactions are not always recorded in triplicate.
Members of a gubernatorial task force will get their turn Thursday to grill Feinberg, as he meets for two hours with members of the Gulf Oil Spill Economic Recovery Task Force.
Some members of the panel have been highly critical of the slow pace of payments to coastal businesses that lost millions in businesses during the critical summer tourism season in North Florida, even if there was no oil in their area.
Others worry that Feinberg will backtrack on recent promises that the fund would pay for lost business brought on by the mere threat of oil.
“Florida’s citizens hurt by the Deepwater Horizon spill have faced unreasonable delays, a confusing lack of information and varying messages,” George Sheldon, Florida Secretary of Children and Families and a member of the panel, said in an Oct. 21 letter to Feinberg. “At this point, the process is clearly broken.”
Carol Dover, president and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, said the slowness of payments remains an issue for thousands of hotel and motel owners, restaurateurs and others who were affected by the spill whether they saw oil or not.
They’re also coming up against a Nov. 23 deadline for initial emergency claims, which can be filed with less documentation. That deadline may come too early for many applicants who first filed with BP officials and now are being required to file again to the federal organization overseen by Feinberg.
“People need their emergency payments and they have needed them for some time,” Dover said. “How can you put a deadline on what you can file on when people are still being confused over how to file?”
Mario Di Gennaro, a Monroe County Commissioner also on the governor’s task force, said he’s got a series of questions and comments for Feinberg on the current claims process and how it could be made more efficient by increasing the number of adjusters and putting them on commission.
Despite being hundreds of miles away from the Panhandle, businesses in the Florida Keys have also suffered and have yet to be adequately compensated, Di Gennaro said. They are frustrated and increasingly angry.
“We know he’s got his hands full,” Di Gennaro said. “He’s got a hell of a tough job. But we’ve got people hurting here. I’ve been a businessman longer than I’ve been a commissioner. I just want some straight answers.”
Responding to the criticism, Feinberg said the relief agency has been successful in repaying $1.7 billion in claims to 90,000 applicants. While agreeing that improvements can be made, he defended the program as residents’ best chance to receive fair compensation from the company responsible for the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
“I agree that the citizens of the Gulf deserve compassion,” Feinberg wrote Oct. 25 in response to Sheldon’s letter. “I disagree that they have not received it. The GCCF is a unique response to an unprecedented tragedy in the Gulf. It’s not perfect, but thanks to your constructive criticism, and that of others, it can and will be improved.”
BY Michael Peltier
The News Service of Florida
