Law firm of BP claims czar paid $3.3M so far

[The Straight Story]

Law firm of BP claims czar paid $3.3M so far

Thursday, November 4, 2010; 5:50 PM

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. -- The law firm of Kenneth Feinberg, the man in charge of BP's $20 billion compensation fund for Gulf oil spill victims, has so far been paid about $3.35 million from BP PLC to dole out the money, the program said Thursday.

The BP payments go to a number of lawyers working on the claims process and are not necessarily exorbitant given the workload.

But Gulf coast residents who have been demanding transparency in the claims process have been eager to know how much Feinberg is earning, For some, the revelation of significant fees from BP are undermining Feinberg's claims that he is operating independently of the oil giant.

"There's no doubt in my mind that he's working for BP," said Louisiana shrimp processor Dean Blanchard. "He can say he's independent, but he's working for BP and he's low-balling all of us, the people affected the most."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/04/AR2010110406012.html