Court agrees BP’s settlement with others

Court agrees BP’s settlement with othersA Judge in the federal court has given approval to a settlement reached between oil giant, British Petroleum and businesses and individuals who suffered losses because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

BP has said that it will pay about $7.8 billion to meet the economic and medical claims from more than 100,000 businesses and individuals who were affected by the country's worst offshore oil spill. The settlement does not have a fixed limit indicating that the company might pay a higher or a lower amount.

U. S. District Judge Carl Barbier wrote, "None of the objections, whether filed on the objections docket or elsewhere, have shown the Settlement to be anything other than fair, reasonable, and adequate." The 125-page ruling was released this Friday evening.

Plaintiffs' Steering Committee representing fisherman and businesses from the region, was involved in the claims. The Spill was caused by plosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in April 2010. Lawyers for the committee, Stephen Herman and James Roy have said that the compensation amounting to about $7.8 billion will compensate hundreds of thousands of victims of the accident that also affected the regions environment.

Judge Barbier has said in a ruling that the proposed terms of the class settlement have been approved by the court.