BP Oil Spill, BP Oil Spill Cleanup Workers BLOG POST

Key Terms for Understanding the BP Gulf Oil Spill Settlements

The road to recovery for Gulf Coast zone residents and oil spill clean-up workers has been a long one — and stands to be even lengthier as growing numbers of long-term health issues are diagnosed. Anyone making a claim for health benefits knows the forms are complicated and difficult to understand. Here are definitions for a few key terms you are sure to come across.

Class action. Many people who were injured or economically harmed by the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill joined together as a group called a class to sue British Petroleum (BP).

Multi-district litigation (MDL). Of all the lawsuits brought against BP in different federal district courts, 77 were similar enough to be joined into one large class action lawsuit — Multi-District Litigation No. 2179 — heard by one judge. This MDL resulted in BP establishing a $20 billion fund to pay claims related to those lawsuits.

Medical claim. The Medical Benefits Settlement (MBS) piece of MDL 2179 provides medical benefits for oil spill cleanup workers including:

• Compensation for certain acute (short-term) and chronic (ongoing) medical conditions occurring after exposure to oil or chemical dispersants
• Provision of periodic medical examinations to qualifying people
• Creation of a Gulf Region Health Outreach Program

To qualify, you must be either a resident who was present for 60 days during the crisis or a recovery worker.

Medical Class. These are people who are eligible to apply for benefits through the MBS, including:

• Clean-up workers
• Certain people who resided in specific geographic areas (see Zones A and B below) during specific periods in 2010
• Cleanup personnel in Texas

Periodic Medical Consultation Program. Medical Class Members are eligible for an additional medical visit with follow-up visits every three years to monitor their health — for the duration of the program up to 21 years.

Later-manifested physical conditions. People diagnosed with later-manifesting physical conditions are eligible to file individual suits against BP under certain conditions. Later manifesting is defined as:

• A disease first diagnosed after April 16, 2012
• A disease claimed to result from exposure related to the oil spill
• The exposure occurred:
  • On or before April 16, 2012 (Clean-up workers)
  • On or before September 30, 2010 (Zone A residents)
  • On or before December 31, 2010 (Zone B residents)

Oil spill clean-up workers. These are people who performed response activities following the oil spill including the clean-up, remediation efforts and all other response actions including the use and handling of dispersants or decontaminants done at the direction of Unified Command, BP or a federal, state or local authority. These include:

• Vessel of Opportunity (VOO) program employees
• Workers who decontaminated Response Activity vessels
• Captains, crew members and other workers on non-VOO Response Activity vessels
• Onshore personnel
• Persons who recovered, transported and decontaminated affected wildlife

Zone A. These are beachfront locations, extending half a mile from the water, that are considered to have received the highest volume of oil and related damage, including:

• All of Grand Isle, Louisiana
• Mississippi Sound between Pascagoula and Waveland, and Cat, Ship and Horn Islands
• San Souci Beach, Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores, Alabama
• Florida coast from the Alabama border to Port St. Joe and the barrier islands on the Gulf Coast, including St. Vincent Island, Little St. George Island and Dog Island

Zone B. These marshland or bayou areas also potentially received a significant amount of damage and extend one mile from the sections designated on a map of the area:

• Louisiana: The barrier section of land surrounding Vermilion Bay and as far north as Harmon Lake, most of southern Louisiana from Lake Borgne to the Atchafalaya Delta, and Breton Sound and the Chandeleur Islands
• Mississippi: An area from St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge through the Pearl River Island to Lakeshore, and from Jackson to the Alabama border, as far north as Pecan
• Alabama: Zones that extend from the border of Mississippi to Bayou La Batre and as far north as Alabama’s Coastal Connection, Coden, Mobile and Alabama Port.

Economic claim. The Economic & Property Damages Settlement, a piece of MDL 2179, reimburses certain economic loss and property damage claims including:

• Seafood compensation loss
• Individual economic loss
• Individual periodic vendor or festival vendor economic loss
• Business, start-up business and failed business economic loss
• Costal and wetlands real property damage and real property sales loss
• Subsistence loss
• Vessel of Opportunity (VOO) charter loss
• Vessel physical damage

To be eligible, you must live in one of several designated areas.

Benzene. A natural ingredient in crude oil which has been linked to health problems following the oil spill. Benzene evaporates quickly into the air and dissolves easily in water. Short-term health effects can include irritation of the skin, eyes and respiratory tract, headache, drowsiness and dizziness. Quickly absorbed into the human bloodstream, benzene damages stem cells and leads to potentially fatal blood disorders including leukemia, bone marrow disorders, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and aplastic anemia.

Dispersant. Chemicals used to thin out — disperse — the oil spill and prevent oil reaching the coastline. BP used 1.84 million gallons of a dispersant called Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527 which has been linked to serious health issues. Scientific studies have associated a number of the two Corexits’ ingredients with cancer, skin and eye irritation from rashes to burns, respiratory toxins or irritants, kidney toxins, toxicity to aquatic organisms and fish.

If you have suffered ill-health or economic consequences as a result of the BP oil spill, a qualified Gulf lawyer may be able to secure the compensation you deserve. Thousands of people from Louisiana, Florida through Texas and the entire Gulf Coast who have suffered grievous damage because of BP’s negligence have been helped.