Category: BP Claims

BP Claims for Businesses affected by the Gulf Oil Spill have proven difficult to get through the GCCF for many. We have BP Claims Experts to help you with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.

Apr 03, 2013

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Deepwater Horizon Settlement Claims

bp settlement

BP Settlement

Does your business’ loss in revenue qualify for a valid BP Business Claim? As a company that has filed hundreds of claims on behalf of businesses to the Deepwater Horizon Economic Settlement, we have started noticing some trends.  To be an ideal candidate for economic compensation, your business should follow the V-shaped revenue pattern, unless you are a Zone A Claim. There are other solutions for businesses, but meeting the V trend is the most common, and by far the easiest to prove.

All business claim outcomes will vary depending on what zone the business falls in and the business’ NAICS code, which is found on the business tax return and allows the IRS to classify the nature of your business. These zones and codes determine the risk transfer premium or RTP, which is a multiplier used to determine the amount of compensation the business will be eligible for.

The ideal business claims revenue pattern would be considered to be the “V-shaped Revenue Pattern.”  This is a revenue decline in the 2010 compensation period, compared to the same months in the benchmark period, followed by increased revenues in the same months of 2011. With a V-shaped Revenue Pattern, the business needs only some basic documentation and does not need to pass any causation tests. The other two patterns are the Modified V-Shape Revenue Pattern and the Decline Only Revenue Pattern. With these two trends more documentation may be needed from Deepwater Horizon to prove causation.

Our team of skilled executives and advisors can analyze your business claim for validity and to ensure your maximum compensation. Working with CPA’s and attorneys when necessary, we assess your claim and choose the course of action that will work out best for your particular case. Although not all businesses that were affected will display these patterns, you may be able to forgo filing to the Deepwater Horizon Settlement and sue BP directly for your damages. The deadline to file all claims is vastly approaching. To get the process of calculating your claim started, submit some brief information on your losses and we will contact you shortly thereafter.

Fill out the form and we evaluate your claim at no charge.
 

Apr 24, 2012

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ALL ABOUT THE BP SETTLEMENT ZONES

Zones that are currently in the BP Settlement.

bp settlementIdentifying the Zones

Previously the Zones of the BP Settlement were fairly simple, based on distances from the shoreline.

For example, Zone A was within 0.5 miles of the shoreline, Zone B was over 0.5 miles, but up to miles. Zone C was over 1.0 miles, but under 2.0 miles. Zone D was over 2.0 miles.

After BP’s acceptance of the BP Settlement, much has changed. The same 4 Zone structure exists with A, B, C and D; however, the zones have different distance requirements and are affected by Class type of the BP Settlement.

BP Settlement Class Type Affects the Zone in Which You are Located

1.      Property Damage & Lost Sales Claims: The Zones are broken up here so specifically that YOU may be in Zone A, but your neighbor across the street may be in Zone B.
The difference here is that Zone A only needs to show the financial loss, Zone B needs to show the financial loss AND that the loss was CAUSED by the Spill.

2.      Seafood Harvester Claims: Are similarly broken up as Property Claims in the BP Settlement, but not with such finite detail. Zone A is broader, but is etched closer to the shoreline. Use the business address, or employment address, should be the address of your home port for the BP Settlement. Essentially, the home port address should be the address of where you dock your boat.

3.      Economic Loss Claims: For the BP Settlement, Zone A is sporadic, applies to the Florida Keys, around the New Orleans area, Orange Beach, AL and Gulfport, MS, with some areas in Mobile, AL. The other Zones that apply are Zone C. Zone B is not as broad as Zones A, C and D, with some occurrences around Tampa Bay, North of Pensacola for a few miles, small spots in MS, AL, and LA.

4.      Medical Claims: Don’t really have a Zone in the BP Settlement. You just need to prove you worked on Clean-Up, you were exposed and had suffered an injury at the time you worked on Clean-Up, OR have chronic symptoms.

For Medical Claims of the BP Settlement, you could be a resident in Ohio who worked on the Spill Clean-Up. You will need to prove exposure, employment and injury, but so long as you have the symptoms, or were injured you still have a claim.

Zones Complexity, Confusion or Much Ado About Nothing?

For the BP Settlement, you need to conceptualize this, or make a concept out of this note here:

Oil has the golden touch, wherever the oil physically touched the beaches that specific area will be Zone A.

Areas next to that area will be Zone B or Zone C. Areas over 2.0 miles from the Zone A areas will most likely be Zone D, under the BP Settlement.

Zones C and D will have the largest problems with showing causation under the BP Settlement. Everybody suffered a loss after the Spill, but you must show that you suffered a loss BECAUSE of the Spill.

Is the Zone System of the BP Settlement it Really That Complicated?

Yes and no. The Zone system of the BP Settlement was intended to set up more categories in order to end the uniform treatment of different business types that was experienced under the GCCF.

The BP Settlement also specifically identifies BP’s liability to many more people and businesses than what had been experienced under the GCCF.

Our licensed claims adjusters have the ability to decipher the Zoning sections, project potential losses and offer the argument of your claim value for your BP Settlement claim.

This will be a brief overview of the different types of Zones that are currently in the BP Settlement.

Identifying the Zones

Previously the Zones of the BP Settlement were fairly simple, based on distances from th shoreline.

For example, Zone A was within 0.5 miles of the shoreline, Zone B was over 0.5 miles, but up to miles. Zone C was over 1.0 miles, but under 2.0 miles. Zone D was over 2.0 miles.

After BP’s acceptance of the BP Settlement, much has changed. The same 4 Zone structure exists with A, B, C and D; however, the zones have different distance requirements and are affected by Class type of the BP Settlement.

BP Settlement Zones and types of Claims

1.      Property Damage & Lost Sales Claims: The Zones are broken up here so specifically that YOU may be in Zone A, but your neighbor across the street may be in Zone B.
The difference here is that Zone A only needs to show the financial loss, Zone B needs to show the financial loss AND that the loss was CAUSED by the Spill.

2.      Seafood Harvester Claims: Are similarly broken up as Property Claims in the BP Settlement, but not with such finite detail. Zone A is broader, but is etched closer to the shoreline. Use the business address, or employment address, should be the address of your home port for the BP Settlement. Essentially, the home port address should be the address of where you dock your boat.

3.      Economic Loss Claims: For the BP Settlement, Zone A is sporadic, applies to the Florida Keys, around the New Orleans area, Orange Beach, AL and Gulfport, MS, with some areas in Mobile, AL. The other Zones that apply are Zone C. Zone B is not as broad as Zones A, C and D, with some occurrences around Tampa Bay, North of Pensacola for a few miles, small spots in MS, AL, and LA.

4.      Medical Claims: Don’t really have a Zone in the BP Settlement. You just need to prove you worked on Clean-Up, you were exposed and had suffered an injury at the time you worked on Clean-Up, OR have chronic symptoms.

For Medical Claims of the BP Settlement, you could be a resident in Ohio who worked on the Spill Clean-Up. You will need to prove exposure, employment and injury, but so long as you have the symptoms, or were injured you still have a claim.

Zones Complexity, Confusion or Much Ado About Nothing?

For the BP Settlement, you need to conceptualize this, or make a concept out of this note here:

Oil has the golden touch, wherever the oil physically touched the beaches that specific area will be Zone A.

Areas next to that area will be Zone B or Zone C. Areas over 2.0 miles from the Zone A areas will most likely be Zone D, under the BP Settlement.

Zones C and D will have the largest problems with showing causation under the BP Settlement. Everybody suffered a loss after the Spill, but you must show that you suffered a loss BECAUSE of the Spill.

Is the Zone System of the BP Settlement is it Really That Complicated?

Yes and no. The Zone system of the BP Settlement was intended to set up more categories in order to end the uniform treatment of different business types that was experienced under the GCCF.

The BP Settlement also specifically identifies BP’s liability to many more people and businesses than what had been experienced under the GCCF.

Our licensed claims adjusters have the ability to decipher the Zoning sections, project potential losses and offer the argument of your claim value for your BP Settlement claim.

Mar 29, 2012

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BP Claims Settlement Calculations for Businesses

BP Claims: Business Calculations for the BP Settlement

BP Claims  This report will inform you of the new BP Settlement system and how it will most likely be applied to your business. There are many changes from the GCCF system, we expect the Court Supervised BP Claims Process will be an improvement, but we do not preach its perfection. This report will discuss Final Payment Offers, the new calculations, the new Zone system and how to go about readying your business’s BP claim for the new process. The examples below are our best guesses with what we know of the new process.

If your business has filed BP claims and accepted the Final Payment Offer on its BP claims, your business is not entirely finished, yet. The Final Payment Offers were used to write off BP claims such as your business’s BP claim. The attorneys negotiating the settlement agreement have recognized this issue and are attempting to make BP re-process BP claims that have been concluded with a Final Payment Offer. On the other hand, BP claims that have accepted the Quick Payments, may not be as lucky. BP is attempting to hold out on Quick Payment BP claims, however, this organization will advocate for BP claims that have accepted the Quick Payments. If your business’s BP claim had accepted the Final Payment Offer, all amounts paid by BP will be deducted from the loss calculated under the new Court Supervised BP Claims Process, at least that is what we have been hearing.

BP Claims Settlement Calculations

This will bring us to how the calculations will be executed for your business’s BP claims under the new System. The Court Supervised BP Claims Process will apply a Risk Transfer Premium (RTP) similarly used in disastrous weather scenarios. Essentially, the calculation will most likely be on a one-tenth scale from 1.0 to 5.0 where your 2010 loss will be calculated, then multiplied by your assigned RTP. So, the calculation will look like:

2010 Loss X Your assigned RTP = Your Award Amount, or BP’s liability on your BP claim.

The multiplier value for your BP claim will depend on your locale to the Oil Spill, the relation your business has to the Gulf Resources of tourism and fishing. The further away your business is located from the Spill, and the less likely your business depends on tourism, the lower your multiplier.

When filing your BP claims, you should keep in mind that your business’s location matters. As previously mentioned, your multiplier will be affected by your distance from the soiled beaches and wetlands. So, a car dealership, for example, across the street from a previously soiled beach, will get a higher multiplier than a car dealership that is 2.0 miles from the soiled beach. Furthermore, a car dealership across the street from the beach will receive a lower multiplier than the hotel next to it because of the lack of traditional reliance upon tourism.

Keep in mind when you are preparing your BP claims, gross and net sales will not be the figure used to calculate losses. The Oil Pollution Act prevents this. The figure you should use is the gross profits figure for your BP claim. Gross profits equal net sales, less cost of goods/services. The new system will take your worst three Post-April 2010 months, average those months and apply that loss figure to May to December 2010 as your monthly loss. The monthly loss will be totaled, then the RTP will be applied. This information will aid you on your BP claim.

Now, onto locale for your BP claim, using the two aforementioned car dealerships as an example. The Court Supervised BP Claim Process has split the Gulf Region in three zones:

Zone A: Will be all those businesses with BP claims 1/2 mile, or less, away from the beaches from Galveston, TX to Key West, FL.
Zone B: Will be all those businesses GREATER than 1/2 mile from the beaches from Galveston, TX to Key West, FL.
Zone C: Will be all those businesses greater than 1.0 miles from the beaches from Galveston, TX to Key West, FL.

These are educated guesses of how the zones will work.

So, a car dealership with a BP claim in Zone A will be assigned a greater RTP than a car dealership in Zone B and a hotel with a BP claim in Zone A will receive a higher multiplier than the car dealership in Zone A, or B. You can see how the calculations will be correlated with business type and distance.

BP Claims Solutions for Business

You can see that the BP claims process is still complicated, however, you can see that it is more transparent than the GCCF system. If you have any questions, or need assistance in filing a BP claim, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-BP-CLAIM or fill out the form to the right. Adjusters and consultants charge 15% and Attorneys charge from 20% to 33.3% to handle your BP Claims.