New Orleans: A US court ruling on Friday opened the door for BP to appeal against some Deepwater Horizon damage awards.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana, ruled that BP deserved the right to appeal because it had not expressly waived that right.
The British oil giant is trying to scale down some of the huge payouts awarded to victims of the April 2010 disaster when an explosion on their Gulf of Mexico rig the Deepwater Horizon left 11 men dead and caused the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
About $5.13 billion has been paid out so far to 63,597 claimants and BP estimates it could finally dish out $10.3bn to settle all claims.
BP successfully argued on Friday that rules adopted by US District Judge Carl Barbier at a 2012 settlement hearing had compromised the company’s right to appeal awards by that judge.
