The BP oil well catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico and the resulting damage of many kinds have been in the news for months. But we haven’t heard the last of it.
The costs, along with the environmental damage, can’t really be fully calculated.
Many of the people who were financially harmed by the 200 million-gallon oil spill will receive damage payments of varying amounts.
BP has set aside a $20 billion compensation fund.
But not surprisingly – human nature being what it is – it is reported that there might be more claims of losses coming in than there were people and businesses actually damaged.
Many of the claims reportedly have not been accompanied by reasonable documentation. How would some who were actually damaged “document” their precise losses? And how about some people in the area who may concoct spurious claims?
So far, it is reported that about 31,000 claims have been filed with little or no documentation.
After claims were filed related to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, the National Center for Disaster Fraud prosecuted more than 1,300 possibly fraudulent claimants.
That suggests that from the BP disaster there will be a lot of money passed out to legitimate claimants, some to “suspicious” claimants and some to people not actually damaged – while some legitimate damage victims may not get anything.
This is a very “tempting” situation in which to assure justice.