Thousands of individuals and businesses that sued BP over damage from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill appealed a judge's approval of a US$7.8 billion (Dh28.64bn) class-action settlement.
Brent Coon, a lawyer for plaintiffs who opted out of the settlement, said in a filing in federal court in New Orleans that he was appealing the judge's orders approving the settlement. An attached list names more than 10,000 individuals and businesses who are challenging the accord.
Mr Coon said last year his clients would not participate in the class-action settlement because there were too many technical problems with the claims process, which he called "slow, arduous and unexplainable".
BP agreed in March to pay an estimated $7.8bn to resolve most private plaintiffs' claims for economic loss, property damage and injuries. The settlement was reached days before a scheduled trial on liability for the 2010 spill.
The blowout and explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers and started millions of barrels of crude leaking into the gulf. The accident prompted hundreds of lawsuits against BP; Transocean, the Swiss owner and operator of the rig; and Halliburton, which provided cementing services for the well.
BP faces additional billions of dollars in civil pollution fines and costs to restore natural resources damaged by the spill. The US district judge Carl Barbier has scheduled a non-jury trial for February 25 in New Orleans, where he will apportion civil liability among BP and the other companies involved in the disaster.
In a court filing on Friday, BP asked that criminal indictments against it and its employees not be used as evidence in the civil trial.
BP has agreed to plead guilty to 14 counts, including 11 for felony seaman's manslaughter, and pay $4bn.
* Bloomberg News
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SCORES
Yorkshire Vikings 144-1 in 12.5 overs
(Tom Kohler 72 not out, Harry Broook 42 not out)
bt Hobart Hurricanes 140-7 in 20 overs
(Caleb Jewell 38, Sean Willis 35, Karl Carver 2-29, Josh Shaw 2-39)
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
More on Quran memorisation:
Match info
Liverpool 3
Hoedt (10' og), Matip (21'), Salah (45 3')
Southampton 0
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
