Feinberg
Ken Feinberg, administrator of the $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), said he's hired a legal ethics professor to clarify that he is not working for BP, according to an Associated Press report.
The AP story cites a GCCF spokeswoman Debra DeShong, who said that Feinberg has hired New York University law professor Stephen Giller to write a letter stating that Feinberg and the GCCF are a neutral party not under control by BP.
In a motion filed before the Christmas holiday, plaintiff counsel in the multi-district litigation involving the Gulf of Mexico oil spill claimed that Feinberg is working as an agent of BP.
The plaintiffs' motion claimed that the "GCCF is undoubtedly acting pursuant to a BP mandate" in order to "avoid lawsuits."
It also stated that "Mr. Feinberg ... seems indistinguishable from a defense attorney attempting to settle cases on behalf of BP."