Imagine: You are the neutral arbitrator of a large compensation fund and you are being roundly criticized. The people making damage claims say you are underpaying them, being too slow, denying too many and tell anyone who will listen how you are not neutral, but are working for the company who is paying out the damages. It’s gotten so bad that local and national politicians … Continue reading Bad Cop, Worse Cop…
Back in the first week of January, I wrote a little something about how the reparation money paid to claimants should be tax free. In the hard times across the Gulf Coast, the last thing people need is to budget 25% of their payment to the IRS, especially people receiving the quick payment: 25% of $5000 dollars to an individual or $25,000 dollars to business. Well, … Continue reading Really, Obama? No tax breaks for claimants?
From the Times-Picayune’s David Hammer: “Kenneth Feinberg couldn’t have been clearer: In December, the oil spill claims czar told claimants who had already received emergency payments from him that they could sign away their right to sue, collect one more check within 14 days and be done with the whole process, with “no further review.” But the truth is that some who sought the so-called … Continue reading Guidepost Solutions…thanks David…
When Judge Barbier of the US District Court ordered Feinberg last week to finally, start being honest with people and stop referring to himself and the GCCF as neutral or independent of British Petroleum, he opened a very significant door. And today is the day to kick that door down. Barbier has asked attorneys to file briefs on the claim fund’s compliance with the Oil … Continue reading Hey Everybody, It’s File a Brief Friday!
Ain’t nobody paying their bills. Course, there are different reasons for this…shall we review? 1. British Petroleum: “Ricky Myers, who owns Rhino Construction in Bay St. Louis, Miss., said Tuesday that BP contractor O’Brien’s Response Management owes him $650,000 for his company’s work cleaning up beaches and barrier islands after the spill. ‘It seems like the bottleneck or the buck stops at O’Brien,’ Myers said.” … Continue reading What do BP, the GCCF, Obama and Gulf Coast Residents Have in Common?
From the GCCF website: “Who is eligible for a Quick Payment? A Claimant who has been paid an Emergency Advance Payment from the GCCF of any kind can receive a Quick Payment. Thus any Claimant who has been paid an Emergency Advance Payment by the GCCF on a Lost Income, Property Damage, Removal and Clean Up, Loss of Subsistence Use, or Physical Injury/Death claim can … Continue reading Feinberg’s new quick pay loophole…the investigation
Guidepost Solutions, the investigative arm of Ken Feinberg and the GCCF = British Petroleum, have apparently been stirring up the Gulf’s waters these past couple of weeks. From their website’s masthead: “Guidepost Solutions LLC is a global investigations and security company with expertise in designing and managing the installation of physical security and life safety systems for both new and existing sophisticated facilities and operations. The … Continue reading It would appear Guidepost Solutions getting busy in the Gulf…
And now, a word from our sponsors… Landmine Marathon – Shadows Fed to Tyrants The hidden subtext? Obviously… Would it be Feinberg’s plan to delay, delay, delay until the residents of the Gulf Coast are too worn out to fight back against Fed Gov/British Petroleum’s attempt to wash each others’ hands of this mess? It’s just a question… And yeah, good luck with that. Have a nice day. Continue reading And now, a word from our sponsors… BP/GCCF/Fed Irresponsibility Version
When Feinberg posted the GCCF’s methodology, he opened up a two-week public comment period and requested claimants in the Gulf Coast post their thoughts directly to the website. He pledged to monitor the public feedback and make adjustments to his methodology as necessary, taking into account the concerns of the people most affected by the oil spill and the claims process. A perusal of the … Continue reading People eager to tell Feinberg their opinions on GCCF methodology…
What a week… Lot of news from the Gulf these past few days…so this morning, I kinda stepped back a bit and cleared the mind before taking a look at this whole mess from the outside…especially in light of a reader comment I received yesterday, who asked what people can do to keep the pressure on British Petroleum and the GCCF. But before I get to … Continue reading Stepping back and looking in…what to do now?
Drake Toulouse: Photography and Words 