Attention Gulf Coast residents whose livelihoods are impacted by the oil spill: The guy in charge of doling out the claims dollars features a sliver of wonderful news to suit your needs.
“I anticipate taking substantially much less documentation [for claims] than would otherwise be needed,” says Kenneth Feinberg, administrator with the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund.
Such as, he will probably accept a captain’s note vouching for a fisherman’s salary rather than a tax return. The reason: Feinberg says he’s aware of a “real underground economy down in the Gulf,” where a lot of work is done on a cash basis.
To be sure, it remains to be seen how that promise will hold up once money starts rolling out and the statements keep piling up. Forbes has already pointed out that the $20 billion escrow fund that BP will create to create to compensate the spill’s victims is a welcome mat for false statements.
Feinberg’s not saying it will be easy to get bucks. He notes that payouts will be subject to taxation and scrutiny by the IRS, which may discourage some false claims.
In addition,
Microsoft Office 2007 Product Key, he may get tough on future claims. For example—Feinberg’s fond of hypothetical examples—he can offer a fisherman who expects to be out of work for a year $180,000 to release BP of all liability. And what if the fisherman says he wants $360,
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“That individual will be offered $180,000,
Office Home And Business 2010 Key, and if he or she doesn’t want it, don’t take it,” Feinberg says. “One of your challenges I’ll have … is calculating with a murky crystal ball what is a future claim worth.”
Feinberg, an animated Washington attorney with a heavy Massachusetts accent, has been the government’s go-to guy on major claims and dispute matters for nearly a decade. He was “special master” of the fund to compensate the families of 911 victim, and he’s currently winding up his stint as the Obama administration’s “pay czar” overseeing executive compensation practices at some for the largest bailed out financial firms.
Feinberg was at the headquarters of watchdog group Public Citizen on Tuesday to talk about Wall Street bonuses, but the conversation quickly turned to BP. (The company on Tuesday announced a $17 billion loss for the second quarter and tapped a new chief executive, Robert Dudley,
Office 2010 Pro Activation Key, an American who takes the reins of your British energy giant on Oct. 1.)
To date BP has paid more than $200 million in statements related to the oil spill in April, but it hasn’t made its first large deposit to the claims fund. Feinberg says that Dudley has assured him that the cash is on the way,
Windows 7 Upgrade Key, and he expects both the fund and the statements facility to be up and running sometime in August. At that point, he says, the compensation fund will begin making emergency payments for up to six months of lost wages.
Then it gets tough. A key challenge going forward will be determining the eligibility of a claim. To illustrate: while it’s obvious that a beachside motel that has no customers as a result of the spill is eligible, what about a motel located 40 miles away, which has seen business drop but not vanish? For now, Feinberg has no answers. “The second issue is going to be proving your claim,” he says.
And what about the possibility of BP exerting too significantly influence over the payouts to victims? Feinberg, who is being paid through the escrow fund set up by the company, doesn’t seem concerned. “They want to get out in the statements business,” he says.
That remains to be seen as well.
Windows 7 Upgrade Key Feinberg Expects To Accept L
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