BP claims administrator makes millions despite few claims paid

From:  4WWL

David Hammer / Eyewitness Investigator 5:27 p.m. CST January 30, 2015

A court-appointed administrator has paid out just $331,589 in medical claims in his first 11 months processing requests under BP's settlement, resolving less than 6 percent of the more than 12,000 health-related damage claims submitted so far.

By comparison, a separate settlement fund to pay for economic damages from the disastrous 2010 oil spill has doled out $4.3 billion to more than 53,000 claimants.

Meanwhile, BP paid the medical claims administrator, Matt Garretson of Cincinnati, $2.2 million in November 2014 alone.

"Why aren't they being paid?" asked Frank D'Amico, a New Orleans attorney who represents clients who have filed more than 500 claims, plus thousands more who are planning to file by a Feb. 12 deadline. "These are people who have legitimate, real injuries from their exposure trying to clean this oil mess up and they still haven't been paid."  MORE