If you have gathered the necessary paper work to support your claim should be W2, tax returns, income statement etc, the first step you need to take is to file your BP Claim for Emergency Advance Payment, this claim and payment will be part of your final payment claim. This claim will be for what you have lost up to the point of you filing the claim. It does not mean that if you filed a claim in August you cannot file another BP claim in September. You can file as many Advance Payment BP claims as you feel is necessary and that you feel you have supporting documentation for. Remember there is a deadline on the Emergency Advance Payment Claim, you have to have filed your claim before November 23 2010
The Emergency Advance Payment does not mean you give away your right to file a oil spill lawsuit against BP on a later date or from receiving this payment BP does not owe you anything else, this is just to keep your bills paid and to keep you covered for the lost of income or wages you have had.
Final BP Claims Payment
The Final claim payment is when you give away your rights to ever claim damages against BP again for this oil spill. This is where in my opinion you need an oil spill attorney by your side to advice you of your rights and what you should expect to get as a final claim payment from BP. There is also a deadline on the Final claim payment and it is August 23 2013. By this date you have to have your final claim payment in. It is of course BP’s hope that many people will forget about the final claim payment and only take advantage of the first claims process. Here is what you have to remember if you are going to file a Final Claim Payment with BP. Will the oil spill effect me or my business in the future. If you lost 3 month of work in the summer but are now back to work, maybe it will not effect you anymore, but what if you where a waiter and was hoping to get back to work, next summer the tourist might not come back and you need to keep these things in mind when filing your final claim payment paperwork. Again please contact an oil spill attorney to help you though this process.
Using an Oil Spill Attorney
When you go though the BP claims process as a individual or as a business owner its important to realize how much an oil spill attorney can do for you as a person or your business. They have hundreds of clients going though the same process you are and they have the resources to keep the pressure on BP and the claims offices to keep you BP claims moving in the right direction for you. Don’t forget to consider this before you sign your name on a final claims payment from BP as this marks the end of BP liability to your as a person or your business.
BP Claims Form
For todays post I have selected to post an experince of a lady that does beach weddings in Panama city beach, I hope other will join the discussion and post their experience
Good
or
Bad
with the BP Claims process below in the comments.
Here is her story:
My experiences with BP have been horrible—-I do have a documented loss, (about $20,000 for May and June), I am an incorporated business that only provides beach weddings on Panama City Beach and I have a CPA who put together a complete narrative and breakdown of my losses based on 3 years of tax returns and the loss of profits this year since the oil spill.
In my experiences with the local BP claims office, I was passed to three different adjusters after my first adjuster said he couldn’t handle any more “hysterical women” that day when I filed.
Later that week when I called in to check on my claim, my new adjuster hung up on me on the phone when I told him that all the paperwork he was telling me bring in (in addition to the 65 page claim my CPA put together for them) was just stalling tactics so that BP did not have to pay out any money.
When I finally got another adjuster on the phone I was told I would receive a check for $6300.00 (if I brought in more paperwork of course) and when I went to go get it, the check was for only $5000.00.
My adjuster told me I misunderstood what was said because I wasn’t listening to him and that’s why the check was for only $5000.00. When I told him I knew exactly was I was told, he said I could maybe get the missing $1300.00 if I brought in—you guessed it—more paperwork.
I was also told I could go do weddings on other beaches, like Michigan, and that Panama City Beach claimants would not receive compensation because we had not had oil wash up on our beaches.
When I told my adjuster that we had tarballs, sheen and two tanks from the blown up rig wash up on our shore within days of each other, he told me that BP could not pay claims for “the public’s perception of what the beaches may experience when it comes to oil”
In other words, if a bride is worried that our beaches were going to have oil (and the oil was just a few miles off-shore during June) and decides that she does not want to book a Panama City Beach wedding because there was a high chance that oil would be on our beaches and the beaches would be closed, then BP isn’t responsible for that because no oil ever came ashore. Apparently tarballs are not oil, according to BP claims adjusters.
It’s been a long three months of being jerked around by incompetent BP adjusters and the claims process is a huge joke. If it didn’t involve my making a living, I think I would actually laugh about it!
As BP Claims for emergency advance payments made to individuals and business for lost income is getting under way, the real story comes when its time for the
final claims payment
to be made, BP has said this process should start in November 2010.
Final Claims Payment to start in November
A final claims payment is when you sign a contact with BP that you or your business after this final payment will have no other claims against BP no matter what happens in the next few years. This is all your are going to get from BP, even if the oil starts showing up again on the beaches or if the tourist don’t come back for the next 5 years. This is your final bite at the apple.
Final Claims payment Business Example.
Here is an example.
So lets say a business get a check for $10,000 for lost income for a 1 month period, and they have been getting this payment for 6 month now, what would the final claims payment be ? Go to BPClaims.org for more information.
Its all about how long time BP will say the effect of the oil spill will last will it be 1 year, 3 years or 10 years ?
So back to the examples with a business being paid $10,000 a month, now should their final payment be $120,000 (1 year) or should it be $360,000 (3years) or should it be more ?
Direction from BP on final claims payment
it will be very interesting to see what direction BP and their $20 billion oil spill fund will give on this subject. As a lot of people are getting ready to go into dealings about their final claims payments in these coming months. When you get an offer for a final claims payments from BP it would be a good idea to consult an oil spill attorney as they would know better what you should expect and what course of action you might have if your final claims payment is not as good as you want it.
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