Victims’ compensation fund to be paid ‘quickly’

KENNETH FEINBERG, the independent administrator running the $20 billion (€16bn) fund set up by BP to compensate victims, yesterday said he would make sure that “every eligible, legitimate claim is paid and paid quickly”.

Feinberg, an arbitration lawyer, dispensed hundreds of millions of dollars to victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The spill threatens the coastal economies of four states, including Louisiana.

Mississippi Republican governor Haley Barbour, appearing on Meet the Press, said he was anxious to see the well capped, the spill cleaned up and BP cover the entire tab.

“Nothing is satisfactory until the well is shut in. When the well is capped, then clean up the oil, and then BP pays the bills. Until all of that is done, nothing is satisfactory,” he said.

Despite assurances of swift compensation, Louisiana Gulf residents remained skeptical.

“Every time they say there’s a fund for fishermen, we wait years and years,” said Tal Plork, whose fisherman husband, Phan, faced long waits for aid after two hurricanes rampaged across the Gulf region in 2008. “It was like that for Gustav and Ike. Hopefully, now they will go faster.”

Feinberg insisted, however, that President Barack Obama wanted to “get these claims paid. Get them paid quickly”.

He added that he would “err on the side of the claimant” when assessing emergency claims from fishermen and businesses.

“We’ve got to get the claims out quicker,” he told CNN. “We’ve got to get them out with more transparency so that claimants understand what the status is of their claim.

“And we’ve got to ease the burden on these folks in the Gulf. I was there last week. I’ll be there tomorrow. We’ve got to accelerate the process just as the president instructed me to do.”

He added: “With the emergency payments... you’ve got to allow those payments to go out with less corroboration than you would if you’re giving a lump-sum payment that is the total compensation.

“For the emergency payments, we’ve got to err on the side of the claimant.”