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- Title
For a Fistful of Dollars: Quick Compensation and Procedural Rights in the Aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
- Authors
Ewenczyk, Arthur J.
- Abstract
Created by BP at the behest of the White House in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the $20-billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) is not a proper model for government involvement in the resolution of mass torts. Like the Coast Guard-administered Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF), it requires that victims forego their right to litigate their le claims in order to receive quick and much-needed financial assistance. I this respect, these programs are merely government-sanctioned--and in the case of the OSLTF, government-funded--settlement agencies. They do not provide claimants with the robust due-process guarantees of judicial adjudication. In contrast, the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster (EID) loans program allows the government to provide victims with quick financial assistance without requiring victims to surrender any procedural rights, including the right to litigate their claims. Building on this concept, I propose an alternative form of government involvement for disaster like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, where a party is responsible for the damages suffered by victims. In this proposed program, the government would provide victims with a advance on the expected pay-out of their claims. While traditionally victim bear the cost of accidents during litigation, these loans would spread the cost among taxpayers during the pendency of litigation. Further, the pro gram would give victims the option of litigating their claims, while receiving quick financial relief, thereby increasing their access to courts Such a program would be valuable even if victims decided to settle the claims rather than litigate. Having received financial assistance, victim could negotiate fair outcomes by credibly threatening to take their claims to court.
- Subjects
UNITED States; BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion &; Oil Spill, 2010; COMPENSATION (Law); MASS tort settlements; DISASTER victims; OIL spills; UNITED States. Coast Guard; MASS torts; UNITED States. Small Business Administration; ECONOMICS; FINANCE
- Publication
Journal of Maritime Law & Commerce, 2013, Vol 44, Issue 3, p267
- ISSN
0022-2410
- Publication type
Article