Debate ongoing over evidence in spill litigation

As individual plaintiffs continue to object to a tentative settlement over the Deepwater Horizon disaster, debate continues on whether the presiding judge should allow more evidence to be collected, The Houston Chronicle reports. A hearing on the settlement’s fairness is slated for Nov. 8. BP sent a letter to Federal District Judge Carl Barbier last week arguing that since the settlement was announced more than five months ago and a Sept. 7 deadline for additional evidence has now passed, requests by plaintiffs are simply an effort to delay the settlement proceedings. BP’s response comes amid a continuous stream of filings on a proposed settlement that BP agreed to with individual plaintiffs represented by the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for an estimated $7.8 billion. That deal was struck at the beginning of March as a way to resolve individual damages over the Deepwater Horizon accident in April 2010. In a Monday morning letter to the court, attorney Stuart Smith—who represents several individual plaintiffs, a commercial fishermen’s group and a group representing Gulf Coast hotel owners—says that further evidence is needed to determine whether the settlement will cover the economic burden caused by the accident. More details are available in the full story here.