Control of Oil Spill Compensation Fund Shifts to Independent Administrator - The Washington Independent

Kenneth Feinberg takes over today the gargantuan task of distributing the $20 billion BP is setting aside to reimburse victims of the Gulf oil spill. He has said he will approve compensation claims by relying on precedents set by state and federal law. But law professors following the issue say it is unclear just how Feinberg will interpret a key legal doctrine called “proximate cause,” which will determine exactly who gets a slice of the compensation fund.

Visit http://metlifeinsuranceproducts.wordpress.com/ for MetLife Insurance Products News and Reviews.

As independent administrator of the Gulf oil spill compensation fund, Feinberg says he will offer oil spill victims a sum equal to or better than the compensation a protracted legal battle with BP would yield. But to show proximate cause, a claimant must prove a connection between the spill and the damages they have suffered. The definition of proximate cause that Feinberg settles on — various Gulf states define proximate cause differently — will have a major impact on who receives compensation and who does not, experts say. Richard A. Nagareda, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, says the number of steps in between the event in question and the damage incurred matters when determining proximate cause. “Does it flow naturally and in an unimpeded fashion from the defendant’s conduct or are there lots of other things that have to happen before the injury to the plaintiff results?” he says.

Control of Oil Spill Compensation Fund Shifts to Independent Administrator - The Washington Independent