Currently there is a cap of $75Million on BP’s liability (likely to be changed by Congress)… I’d say they’re still pretty darn profitable.[/quote]
The $75 million cap does not include cleanup costs.
It’ll be interesting to watch the fishermen, boaters and others getting no compensation if BP claims that the $75 million cap is maxed out.
[/quote]
Some legislators are talking about changing the legal limit to the amount of third-party damages the company can be sued for. This limit, which was set after the Exxon Valdez spill, now stands at $75m; damages above that figure are meant to be met by a federally managed disaster fund which gets its money from a small tax on oil production and imports.
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who opposes drilling off that state’s shores, talks of increasing the cap to $10 billion, which would open the way for compensation claims as large as the clean-up costs. BP, aware both of the potential downside and of the harm Exxon did to its reputation as it fought off claims against it after the Exxon Valdez, says it will pay all “legitimate” claims, suggesting it is willing to go beyond the current cap, but not lose sight of it.
