Feinburg Takes Heat From Florida Business

February 18, 2011

usiness owners affected by the BP spill continued to vent to lawmakers on Friday about not having been paid quickly enough and getting little feedback on why some claims are denied.

BP claims overseer Ken Feinberg answered a call to appear before the House Economic Affairs Committee, and while acknowledging some problems exist he said the reimbursement process is working. It has been slowed by the sheer volume of claims, now exceeding 500,000, which have flooded into claims offices throughout the Gulf region, he said. To date, Feinberg said the Gulf Coast Claims Facility has paid more than $3.5 billion in claims, including $1.3 billion in Florida.

“We’re doing something right,” Feinberg said. “I believe that there is no comparison between the Gulf Coast Claims Facility and BP, which came before.” Before the federal office was set up to handle the money that BP paid to reimburse those who lost business because of the spill, the oil giant itself handled the claims.

Feinberg told lawmakers that formal rules would be released later in the day to address many concerns about a lack of transparency in the process but some business owners who also came before the committee said they don’t believe Feinberg because they’ve heard similar assurances before and are still waiting to get paid.

Feinberg, appointed by President Barack Obama to make payments to thousands of individuals and businesses affected by the spill, has been the target of increasing criticism by hotel owners, commercial fishers and other tourism-reliant businesses affected by the April 20 explosion and subsequent spill from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

“The perception is that the current process is broken,” said Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Fort Myers. “And to the people who have not been paid at all or who have been denied without explanation, many of whom are in the audience today, it is not a perception. It is a reality.”

The biggest problem, Feinberg contended, remains that many of the claims have been “woefully lacking” in corroborating information. More than 50,000 claims for interim and final payments, for example, have come in with no documentation at all.

“I’m not trying to hold back money,” Feinberg said. “I just want to make sure the claimant has the information needed to justify the claim.”

To speed up the process, Feinberg said he would be dispatching more accountants to the local claims centers. The new rules will also spell out in more detail the information needed to process claims.

Feinberg met Thursday with Gov. Rick Scott and Friday morning with Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Feinberg also met Thursday evening with Rep. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, who said Feinberg told him to “back off” his criticism of the GCCF, a request Broxson said he could not fulfill.

“I told him I’ll continue to represent my constituents,” Broxson said Friday.

Friday’s meeting was attended by dozens of hotel owners who said the claims process has been completely unresponsive to the losses incurred at their hotels, many of which are now in foreclosure.

“The spill has cost our industry hundreds of millions of dollars.” said Nash Patel, a hotel owner from Pensacola. “We are still waiting.”

Angered over Feinberg’s comments Friday, Patel and some others walked out of the meeting.

Speaking to reporters, Art Rocker, a representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the civil rights group, with Fienberg’s blessing, enlisted the help of 400 pastors along the Gulf coast and collected claims from 15,000 residents whose losses have yet to be paid.

“These are real people we’re talking about here,” Rocker said. “They’re poor people. They’re the ones who clean the rooms and who fish in the Gulf to feed their families and make a little extra.”

By Michael Peltier
The News Service Florida

Comments

4 Responses to “Feinburg Takes Heat From Florida Business”

  1. David Huie Green on February 21st, 2011 10:47 pm

    REGARDING:
    “BP has said it will pay all legitimate claims. What is so hard about understanding that?
    “If you want your money, prepare your documentation and submit it; sounds simple enough. ”

    I knew one who could imagine a problem. He figured those who showed how much they made this past year versus how much they claimed to have made last year could run into trouble if it didn’t square with the income taxes they filed those previous years.

    “Well, yeah I didn’t claim that much but that was just to avoid paying high income tax, so I didn’t turn in the money I earned under the table.”

    “Uh, if you can prove you made that much more in the past, we’ll pay you for your losses but understand we’ll have to turn in the documentation showing you defrauded the US government.”

    “Well, if you’re gonna be that way about it, just forget the whole thing.” followed by “BP DIDNT’ PAY ME WHAT I LOST!”

    Not that we think anybody ever would run into such a situation, just fun to imagine.

    David for an oil free environment
    (unless I’m selling it)

  2. SW on February 19th, 2011 4:33 am

    BP has said it will pay all legitimate claims. What is so hard about understanding that?

    If you want your money, prepare your documentation and submit it; sounds simple enough.

    Not defending BP or Feinberg; but remembering that BP is writing all this off their books as losses-probably for years. There’s no real reason for them not to pay, but in order for them to get reimbursed by their insurance company and to write off the books and keep the tax man happy, they have to have documentation; kinda like an expense report-no documentation, no reimbursement.

  3. lwrenn on February 18th, 2011 9:48 pm

    Mr Ken Fienberg, appointed by president Obama now represents BP against American citizens? BP/Halliburton have been found negligent and the little guy gets one of the countries finest legal minds for an adversary? Thanks Mr. President

  4. Jim W on February 18th, 2011 4:20 pm

    All the business people need to keep the pressure on them don’t let up.

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