For someone who claims his GCCF process has been “vindicated,” Ken Feinberg is really going through the legal maneuvers to make sure Jim Hood, Attorney General of Mississippi, can’t get a look behind his curtain.

The lawsuit, originally filed in Hinds County Chancery Court, came when Mr. Hood asked Feinberg to turn over the records of BP oil spill related claims by workers and business owners who gave Hood permission to review their personal financial information.

Feinberg said no, so Jim Hood filed suit. Then Feinberg said he wanted the case removed to Federal Court because the spill happened on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Okay…

It certainly had nothing to do with the idea Ken didn’t want the case to be heard by a Mississippi Judge, presiding over Mississippi people upset about a spill affecting their Mississippi lives, beaches and businesses, nor how Hood was primarily concerned that Feinberg had violated the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act.

Why, that would be ridiculous…Feinberg’s just trying to follow the law.

And now, not content to stall this lawsuit by moving it to a potentially kinder judge in Federal Court, he now wants the case stayed:

“Feinberg, the administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, says all proceedings should be delayed until it is decided if Hood’s lawsuit should be transferred to the BP oil spill multi-district litigation in New Orleans, “this court should stay this case pending the (Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s) decision whether to transfer it to MDL 2179 so as to prevent the needless waste of time and resources of the parties and the court and to avoid potentially inconsistent rulings.”

Needless waste of time and resources?

Well, Ken might know something about that…ask claimants still waiting for payment along the Gulf Coast. Ask people who had to wait for their interim payments while Feinberg worked first on claims more beneficial to his boss, British Petroleum, the quick claims, the final claims, that required claimants to waive their rights to sue BP.

This all continues to be about transparency. Ken Feinberg has consistently said he understands the GCCF should be more transparent, and he has consistently done little to nothing about it. So when a group of claimants gives permission to the Mississippi Attorney General to look at their claims, at their personal financial information to ensure everything is on the up and up, Feinberg again errs on the side of being opaque, and then he stalls.

And then he stalls some more. And then he requests a stay.

Really, it’s time for this to stop.

Read the article,

Feinberg wants Miss. AG’s case stayed

Have a nice day.