BP Mediator Feinberg Cannot Call Himself Independent, Judge Says

A federal judge said that Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer paying victims of BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, cannot identify himself as an independent administrator of a $20 billion settlement fund, Bloomberg News reported today. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans concluded yesterday that Feinberg must fully disclose his ties to BP when communicating with potential claimants. Lawyers for oil-spill victims had questioned Feinberg's handling of the $20 billion trust fund, known as the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF). "A full disclosure of the relationship between Feinberg, the GCCF, and BP will at least make transparent that it is BP?s interests" that Feinberg is promoting in his role as head of the fund, the judge said in a 15-page ruling


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-02-02/bp-mediator-can-t-identify-himself-as-independent-court-rules.html