A US judge has rejected BP’s bid to have compensation payments relating to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill temporarily stopped.
The oil major had been looking to suspend payments over the Deepwater Horizon disaster pending an investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh into alleged misconduct in the payment process.
However, US District Judge Carl Barbier has today rejected the British firm’s request.
“BP has not produced any evidence that would warrant the court taking the drastic step of shutting down the entire claims program,” Barbier said.
BP had lodged the court filing seeking an emergency temporary injunction to prevent further payments from the fund, arguing aspects of the claims process had been tainted.
Freeh had been appointed to investigate alleged misconduct by lawyer Lionel Sutton, who it was alleged had received a portion of settlment payouts for claims he referred to a lawfirm, before joining the staff of the claims administrator Patrick Juneau.
Sutton, who resigned from the administration office last month, denies the allegations. His wife, who also worked as a lawyer for the settlement process, also left the office last month.
The blow-out of the Deepwater Horizon well, off the coast of Louisiana, killed 11 people and damaged local marine and wildlife habitats, along with having a major impact on fishing and tourism industries along the Gulf.
BP agreed a multi-billion-dollar compensation deal in April 2012, but went back to court earlier this month to appeal a previous decision by Barbier not to block payments from the fund after the oil firm said Juneau had misrepresented the terms of the settlement agreement.
Earlier this week BP launched a fraud hotline, offering a reward to people who report false compensation claims made in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
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