In the past two weeks, Ken Feinberg and the GCCF have made 8100 final payment offers to claimants on the Gulf Coast. So far, only 2.5% of them have been accepted, though claimants have 90 days to decide. That’s about 200 people out of 8100 accepting these offers.

Why?

Perhaps it might have something to do with the average amount of the offers so far accepted, which is around $12,000 dollars.

According to Feinberg’s own methodology, this average of $12,000 dollars per claim is meant to cover all past, present and future damages to a Gulf that is far from recovery. It is meant to cover loss of income, loss of jobs, loss of earnings from a fisherman’s catch and according to British Petroleum, it is supposed to be enough to make things right.

It isn’t nearly enough.

When everything you know has been impacted, from your culture and way of life to your employment, from your health, your security and your home to your simple ability to put food on the table for your family, what is $12,000 dollars? Well, according to Feinberg, $12,000 dollars is enough for him to write in a court briefing how his Gulf Coast Claims Facility is the “ideal against which future” operations should be measured.

Course, not everyone agrees with Mr. Feinberg’s assessment:

John Mavrogiannis, the owner of Pinella Marine Salvage Inc. in Tarpon Spring, Florida disagrees so strongly he has decided to try a new approach to this whole BP/Feinberg Catastraphuk…

He’s decided to sue Feinberg himself.

From the Press-Register:

“The company last year requested an emergency payment of $108,000 from Feinberg’s operation and received $88,000, Donovan said. The claims operation promised the remaining $20,000 would be included in a final settlement, but Pinellas Marine requested a final payment more than 100 days ago and has not received a response yet, Donovan said.”

Brian Donovan, Mavrogiannis’s lawyer states his client is suing Feinberg because the claims operation has done more damage than the BP oil spill itself with the GCCF’s strategy of “delay, deny, defend…This strategy, commonly used by unscrupulous insurance companies, is as follows: Delay payment, starve the claimant, and then offer the economically and emotionally stressed claimant a miniscule percent of all damages to which the claimant is entitled,” Donovan said in a written statement.

And how much is a miniscule payment? Well, I suppose it would vary according to the situation, less for individuals and substantially more for businesses, and though I’m no expert when it comes to these matters I might hazard a guess…

It probably averages out to about $12,000 dollars.

Have a nice day.