According to a Reuters report, the US Supreme Court on Monday has refused BP Plc's request to block the payments the company is required to make to business who have demanded compensation for the supposed economic losses it incurred from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP is currently fighting a lower court ruling that would seek to overturn the decision on the overall case.
The emergency application, which was filed with the high court on May 28 following the lifting of the injunction of the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that had prevented BP from making payments while the case is still being decided. BP spokesman Geoff Morrell stated that the company is still set to seek a review from the Supreme Court of the appeals court ruling.
He added, "The company continues to believe that the lifting of the injunction suspending the payment of business economic loss claims will allow hundreds of millions of dollars to be irretrievably scattered to claimants whose losses were not plausibly caused by the Deepwater Horizon accident."
In response to the Supreme Court ruling, lawyers representing the plaintiffs said in a separate statement also on Monday, "(The court action on Monday) will allow businesses to continue to receive the compensation they're rightly entitled to according to the objective, transparent formulas agreed to by BP."
Reuters said BP is trying to curb the payments it needs to make over the explosion of its Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and rupture of BP's Macondo oil well on April 20 in the said year. The incident, which has been recognized as the largest offshore oil spill in the US, also resulted in the deaths of 11 people.
A judge from a lower court had initially ruled that BP would have to honor its original interpretation of a multibillion-dollar settlement agreement over the oil spill, of which the company would be forced to recognize claims of certain businesses without any additional proof of loss.
