November 8, 2016
A Texas federal judge preliminarily approved a $175 million settlement between BP PLC and a class of investors alleging the company downplayed the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the weeks following the blowout, rejecting a bid by 135 institutional investors to modify the settlement opt-out procedures.
BP’s settlement resolves a certified class action alleging the company misrepresented the seriousness of the explosion and its aftermath, in which 11 workers were killed and an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. The 135 institutional investors — who are bringing their own suits apart from the class action, but still within the same multidistrict litigation — had urged the court in September to allow them to be excluded from the class if they wanted, simply by virtue of having filed their own lawsuit against the company, rather than having to follow the opt-out procedures.
Cohen Milstein serves as lead counsel for the settlement class.
Read $175M BP Deal Gets Judge’s OK With Opt-Out Method Intact.