Monday, November 17, 2014

DHECC - cheap fish swim deep

So much has happened since I last posted I don't even know how to catch up.  I apologize for the absence but I've had a lot going on in my personal life and I simply haven't had the time to devote to AZ.  Hopefully I can get back in the saddle and get in a new groove.

Since we last rapped here on AZ, Judge Carl Barbier not only denied BP the right to see the 14 million dollar McGladrey audit commissioned by Claims Administrator Pat Juneau, he also denied BP's motion to dismiss Juneau's tenure as the Claims Administrator in spite of Pat's prior involvement with the BP settlement and the GCCF previous to the formation of the DHECC.  Juneau outright lied about that involvement, twice, in order to hop on the DHECC gravy train and milk it for as much as he and his PSC cohorts could muster.

None of these issues seemed to bother Judge Barbier too much.

Regarding the McGladrey audit, the Judge made up some bullshit excuse to deny it's disclosure to BP by claiming that Juneau has not even had the opportunity to see the final audit, himself.  That's funny stuff.  What Juneau saw was the initial "versions" of the audit and he freaked the fuck out because they were going to expose just how much corruption has occurred in the settlement, particularly by the PSC members (more on that in the next post).  I suppose the Judge wants to give Juneau the opportunity to pay McGladrey an extra 14 million of BP's own money to water down the existing audit and cover up the indiscretions of the PSC.    

At this point I think someone needs to remove Barbier from the settlement for his own good.  He's gone so far off the legal reservation to protect Juneau and the PSC from being exposed for their unethical and ILLEGAL actions, I don't think he even realizes how this is going to mar the legacy of the Louisiana judicial system much less his own personal legacy as a federal judge.  His myopic perch on Poydras has blinded him to the long term damage he's doing to his own reputation, as well as Louisiana, all to protect these rotten bastards who are gaming the system without worry of retribution thanks to him hiding them all behind his robe.

These guys are chomping up wads of settlement cash like Pac-man on meth while the ghosts chasing them: Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, are being held in a perpetual shade of blue by Judge Barbier.

Also, the Andry/Lerner firm, Christine Reitano and Lionel Sutton all stood before Barbier a little over a week ago to plea their case against Louis Freeh's allegations of wrongdoing. Sutton admitted to lying about accepting the Thonn referral fee from AndryLerner.  For some reason this admission garnered the headlines for most MSM outlets, including The Advocate,  with a caveat noting "...it absolved administrator Patrick Juneau of wrongdoing."  Really?  What, exactly, did it absolve Juneau of?  Not knowing Sutton had made the Thonn referral?  No...not.

The irony is too thick.  Barbier absolves Juneau of any wrongdoing because he claimed BP knew he had represented the State before he jockeyed to become the DHECC Claims Administrator.  But then he turns right around and chastises Sutton for the exact same scenario.  If Sutton lied, his lie was no less grand than Juneau's lie....and Juneau lied under oath.

Sutton lied to his wife...and he admitted that in the hearing.  If he lied to Juneau about accepting the referral fee it's a small drop in the bucket compared to what Juneau himself has done.

If you've been following the blog you should already know that Christine Reitano had no fucking idea that her husband, Lionel, had accepted a referral fee for the Thonn claim.  I've stated as much, and so did Lionel in his interview with me, numerous times.  Reitano also informed Pat Juneau of this but he saw fit to fire her anyway.  I'm a little confused as to why people think this was some great revelation, including the local MSM.  I've stated this ad nauseam and I'll state it again.....Christine Reitano is innocent of anything Louis Freeh accused her of.  The headline of that hearing should have been "DHECC employ absolved of allegations made by Special Master Louis Freeh" not "Lionel Sutton lied!!!".  

The PSC and Pat Juneau, however, are guilty as sin of everything I've accused them of here on AZ and I'm about to lay out yet one more damning piece of evidence against Mr. Juneau that dives deep into Louisiana politics and gives us a snapshot as to why so many people are bending over backwards to hide this guy's transgressions, including a federal judge.  Stay with me here.

Something smells fishy

Before Pat Juneau came on as the DHECC Claims Administrator he had been hired by the State of Louisiana as a legal consultant regarding the State's damages and claim against BP for the oil spill.  Juneau originally claimed that he had nothing to do with the ongoing settlement, a prerequisite in order for him to get hired as the Claims Administrator.  He also made the same assertion, under oath, to Louis Freeh in a deposition.  The latter was clearly perjury but Juneau argued that the statements in the deposition had been "taken out of context" and that he had not lied.  That's laughable in my opinion but of course the Judge agreed and absolved Juneau of any conflict of interest because apparently BP knew that Juneau had represented the State before they agreed to hire him as the CA.

Putting all this aside, one incredibly interesting revelation that came up in this investigation was that while under contract with the State of Louisiana, Pat Juneau billed the state for helping to expedite the claim of a private company under Feinberg's GCCF.  Actually that information was liberated through a Public Records Request to the state for Juneau's billing records (hat tip K).

As it turns out, this wasn't just your run of the the mill claim...it was the largest claim paid out by Feinberg, a whopping $44.8 million smackeroos to a single company.

Well, at least a good ole' Louisiana company was getting compensated by BP for the oil spill, you say?  Uh...actually....no.  Turns out this company isn't even a Louisiana-based corporation.

The company Juneau went to bat for and landed the 44.8 mill is Omega Protein, a Houston, Texas based corporation.  Omega harvests Menhaden, also known as Pogies here in the Gulf, a fish that is considered one of the "lifelines" of the Gulf marine ecosystem.  Pogies are one of the most critical links in the Gulf food chain as they procreate en masse and serve as the staple diet for most of the larger Gulf fish and sea creatures.  Omega farms these fish and then grinds them down for various commercial purposes including cat food, fish meal, plant food and nutritional pills.  In fact, Omega is the largest harvester of Pogies in the country constituting up to 80% of the entire national Pogie catch coming from the Gulf and East Coasts. Pogie fishing has traditionally been unregulated but Omega has pulled so many from the Gulf waters, conservation agencies have recently been forced to regulate catches.

Omega also has an interesting political history.  The company cast its first net in Virginia circa 1913 and later moved to Houston.  In 1973 former President George H.W. Bush's company, the Zapata Corporation, bought Omega and later took it public in an IPO announced in 1998.

Omega does have plants in Louisiana, Abbeville and Cameron (closed in 2011), that employ about 550, mostly seasonal, workers.  Their largest plant is in Moss Point, Mississippi, a shipyard that employees about 1000 workers. I've been told by some of my peeps in the fishing industry that the bulk of Omega's workforce are not simply "seasonal" workers but undocumented as well.

The $44.8 million was a massive windfall for Omega; the company's annual income only averages about $177 million.  In fact, the BP spill turned out to be a boon for Omega as it resulted in a 40% rise in prices for their products in 2010 and 2011.  They even ended up catching 90% of their projected catch in 2010 while the Macondo well was still spewing oil out into the Gulf.  Omega's CEO Joe von Rosenberg was ecstatic with the GCCF payout and as the CBS article notes above he was quick to let his stockholders know about it.  It must have worked because shortly after the 44.8 mill landed in their bank account their stock price rocketed out of the cellar where it was hovering between 4 and 6 dollars a share to over 14 dollars a share where it's currently at after a few dips over the years.

Good on Omega, huh?  Louisiana power brokers like Pat Juneau go to bat for guys like this and they end up re-capitalizing the entire company from a single lawsuit.  A rising tide raises all boats right?

Well....we live in Louisiana and we all know by now that what's good for Texas is almost always at the expense of our own state and Omega is no exception.  Shortly after landing the BP payout Omega shut down its Cameron, LA plant and consolidated it with the Abbeville, LA., and Moss Point, MS., plants.

But let's quit obsessing Omega and turn to the real issue...the question here is why would Pat Juneau use his leverage with Feinberg and the GCCF to get a Houston company paid before everyone else and paid extremely well?  The bigger question is....how could he possibly have billed the State of Louisiana to do this?  That's a felony, ya' know?  You can't bill the State to work on a private company's claim, much less one from Texas.  Was he asked to do this by a state official?  Governor Jindal?  Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell?  A Jindal crony like Garret Graves?  If any of these guys had Juneau expedite a private claim on the State's dime it's an even bigger issue than if Juneau did it for his own reasons and I think it's something the Louisiana State Legislative Auditor should investigate PDQ.

And to help them with that investigation (don't hold your breath) I'll offer some extra tidbits of 411 that may help the legislative auditor's office figure out exactly what happened and if Pat Juneau deserves to be criminally charged for billing the State to expedite Omega's claim.

Juneau's invoices show that he was communicating with several of Governor Jindal's cabinet members right before he lobbied Feinberg on behalf of Omega.  As fate would have it, right before they submitted their claim, Omega donated $5000 to the Louisiana Republican Party:

http://www.ethics.state.la.us/CampaignFinanceSearch/ShowEForm.aspx?ReportID=21108


They also donated $2,000 directly to Bobby Jindal in 2009.   Also, $5,000 to Mary Landrieu and $1,000 to Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell back in 2007.

But what's really interesting is Omega's ties to PSC lawyers.  PSC lawyer Jeffrey Breit of Virginia Beach, VA., represented Omega ship captains in a suit against BP.

Phillip Cossich Jr., PSC Member from the law firm Cossich, Sumich, Parsiola and Taylor, also represented Omega several times in the past and even cited those cases in his application to be named a member of the PSC.

It's pretty apparent that Omega has deep connections to the "Good Ole' Boy" network down here in paludal-ville.  Still, the question is how did Juneau get away with billing the State for helping these guys get a 44.8 million dollar payout?  Our tax dollars were used to help a Texas company make a buttload of cash, how is that?

And here's an even better question....was there a direct quid pro quo from Omega to Juneau?  Did Juneau get a referral fee directly from Omega in any way shape or form for his efforts to get them paid and paid better than anyone else in the settlement?

The beat goes on 

This game is so rigged....it's disgusting.  How many Louisiana fisherman have yet to see a dime from the settlement while Juneau helps this Houston company pull down a 45 million dollar windfall?

In the hearing last week, Judge Barbier, in a moment of dudgeon, asked Lionel Sutton, "What year did you graduate law school?"  That's really cute....I would love to ask Barbier the same question.  His robe is only going to fan out so far in his attempt to hide these guys and their illicit behavior.

He is standing in a cesspool and I'm not sure he realizes that it's only going to keep rising.  Forget wrinkled robe...this one is stained through and through.  







23 comments:

Clay said...

+1 for the Inky, Blinky reference.

" I don't think he even realizes how this is going to mar the legacy of the Louisiana judicial system much less his own personal legacy as a federal judge. "

Barbier's handling of the in-courtroom aspects of the BP trial have been masterful. It'd be a shame that he's setting himself up for such a discrediting down the road.

When I saw Zapata on their Wikipedia site, I was wondering if Daddy Bush had a connection.

Pogies are a big deal. ~500,000 Metric Tons of Gulf Menhaden are harvested every year. That a shit ton of fish.


Jason Brad Berry said...

I guess if you consider obstructing justice, hiding illegal activity and allowing PSC members to manipulate the settlement to their great economic advantage in direct violation of the he, himself, set to be "masterful" then yeah....he's a fucking genius.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Rules...sic...on phone

Anonymous said...

Let me see if I have this correct.

In the Thonn claw back matter, Judge Barbier stated in his Order and Reasons that “Sutton argues that the law permits him to recover from AndryLerner the fees that he is owed for his prior work on Thonn’s claim, which would be accurate had Thonn’s claim ultimately succeeded.” So Sutton was found in violation of the Bar rules for lying to a Claims Administrator about a fee that the law permitted, but it is okay for Juneau to lie (twice), under oath, to a Special Master, about a subject that was at the core of BP’s motion to replace him.

In the Omega matter, Juneau bills the State of Louisiana to represent a Texas company that ends up getting more money from the GCCF than any Louisiana company. Omega has ties to at least 2 PSC attorneys and a number of politicians, but we (LA taxpayers) end up paying the bill. Then Juneau is rewarded by getting nominated by the PSC to a $3,000,000+/year job that can be expected to last at least 12 years depending on his level of incompetence.

All this and the outcome of the $35,000,000 Freeh investigation is “Lionel Sutton Lied”. Stained indeed.

Jason Brad Berry said...

That's one helluva synopsis but I want to ask you where you got the 35 million dollar number on the Freeh group. Is that hard data and if so where did you get it?

If Louis Freeh has made 35 million dollars to find out Lionel Sutton told a lie to his wife I think I deserve about 350 million for all the shit I've turned over here on AZ.

Anonymous said...

How nice Omega got its settlement through the GCCF since the settlement agreement administered by Juneau excludes all claims menhaden.

Ashton O'Dwyer said...

Mr. Berry: And I think that the jury is still "out" on the culpability of "Tiger" Sutton's wife, Ms. Reitano. She was partners with her husband in the firm of Sutton & Reitano prior to going to work for Juneau. According to Freeh, it was SHE who referred the Thonn case to Jon Andry, and a non-equity attorney with the Andry firm, Christina Mancuso, testified that Ms. Reitano requested a "referral fee" for that little "gift", conduct which even a First Grader should have recognized as an unethical "conflict of interests", given the fact that Thonn was making a BP claim and that she was going to work for Juneau. Maybe she didn't receive the money (a total of $40,640.23 received by "Tiger" between January 8 and June 5, 2013), but her "bed-mate" did, routed circuitously via "Andry/Glen Lerner/Crown L.L.C." money connections, and at a time when Tiger also was receiving $10,000 per month from Lerner/Crown in connection with a business relationship with Lerner in the water reclamation company called "Crown L.L.C." Have we seen the law firm (Sutton & Reitano) or individual Federal Income Tax Returns for Tiger and Ms. Reitano, together with all attachments? How does one "hide" @ $40,000 from his wife in a 4-month period, the very same wife who was "pimping" for her husband to get a job with the illicit "Crescent City Group" (NO! YOU CAN'T HAVE THE JOB, BECAUSE THERE IS A CONFLICT OF INTERESTS!), and who successfully got him the job with Juneau, all causing the Claims CEO to opine in obvious disgust that Tiger and Ms. Reitano were seeking to make Juneau's office "a Family affair". And what about her husband's financial interest in another former Sutton & Reitano client, with a claim against BP, namely "Romeo Papa L.L.C."? She didn't know about THAT, either? Or about The Andry Firm's $7,908,406 claim, which Tiger expedited and moved to the head of the claims line, resulting in a payout of some $7,648,722? She didn't know about that, either? Or about the fact that the Thonn claim contained elements of fraud? She was ignorant about that, too? Didn't she work on Captain Thonn's claim while at Sutton and Reitano, before going to work for Juneau, and referring the Captain to Jon Andry? And what about the investigation revealing that Ms. reitano was "influencing" the interests of Brown Greer for payment of invoices? Why would Special Master Freeh, in his September 6, 2013 Report to Judge Barbier have stated: "In the case of CAO attorneys Lionel Sutton and Christine Reitano, the Special Master finds that their conduct may have violated the federal criminal statutes regarding fraud, money laundering, conspiracy or perjury", recommending that BOTH husband and wife be investigated by the Eastern District U.S. Attorney and the Bar. Just wondering. Ashton O'Dwyer.

Anonymous said...

I read in one of BPs motions that it paid the Freeh Group 35 million to date. I'm sure that all of that was not to investigate Sutton but Freeh certainly used the accusations of corruption in his report, which were all found to be false, to convince the court that he should be retained. And you are right. If payment was based on performance, you deserve it all.

Anonymous said...

Funny how Ashton of all people suddenly believes everything the Feds, XFBI, Judiciary and MSM spew out.

Anonymous said...

Other than AO'D, is there anyone out there that believes that it was legal for Juneau to bill the state for work done on behalf of a private claimant? Could there be any legitimate explanation?

Anonymous said...

Actually Mr. O'Dwyer, Christina Mancuso submitted an affidavit over a year ago stating unequivocally that Ms. Reitano did not request a referral. The Special Master acknowledged in court filings prior to the hearing that there was no evidence to the contrary. Similarly, the judge found insufficient evidence to support Mr. Freeh's allegations of bribery, special treatment and claims manipulation.

Kevin said...

On the positive side, the court’s order denying BP’s motion to remove PJ does confirm the AZ on a couple of points of concern.

Right away, the court declares that PJ’s appointment “was not made pursuant to Rule 53. Instead, he was appointed as a claims administrator in accordance with a privately negotiated Settlement Agreement. Therefore, Rule 53 is inapplicable ….” So, what was that little gathering back on September 24?

The court also confirms the AZ’s position that there was no formal or technical “sampling” in the preferential treatment of claims for clients of PSC members before the Fairness Hearing, and that nearly 40% of the claimants actually receiving preferential treatment were clients of PSC members.

The court did point out that, according to PJ, over 60% of the expedited claims were for clients of non-PSC attorneys, including some of the objectors to the settlement. I’m guessing the court didn’t browse the AZ for further details on the remaining make-up of that 60%.

Omega Protein had AT LEAST the following Louisiana public servants working on its BP claim: Mark Brady (then-Deputy Commissioner of Administration); Kris Van Ordsel (then-Policy Director at Louisiana Recovery Authority); Curt Eysink (then-Executive Director Louisiana Workforce Commission); Jason El Koubi (then-Director of State Economic Competitiveness at Office Economic Development); and; Patrick Juneau (then-Louisiana contract attorney and one busy Cajun lawyer, him).

Why was so much of the State’s muscle and money being spent for the benefit of Omega Protein who: had other fisheries on the East Coast and in Gulf waters not closed by the spill; at that time had (and still has) serious environmental problems of its own in Louisiana; has been charged by the EPA in 2010 for polluting Chesapeake Bay waters with oil and other pollutants; plead guilty in 2013 to 2 violations of the CWA; and, is frequently sued in Louisiana and Texas by its employees for injuries they receive in what they call unsafe working conditions?

PJ’s going to say was just doing as his client instructed, according to the terms and conditions negotiated by the parties to his contract.

I wonder how much of that money went to clean up and safe jobs in Louisiana?

Jason Brad Berry said...

"PJ’s going to say was just doing as his client instructed, according to the terms and conditions negotiated by the parties to his contract. "

OK...but who the hell told him to do it and for what possible reason other than political reasons? This needs to be investigated....period.

Kevin said...


"OK...but who the hell told him to do it and for what possible reason other than political reasons? This needs to be investigated....period."

Agreed 100%. In fact, I'm going to submit PRRs tomorrow starting with the public servants listed above.

Speaking of his contract, when PJ took on the job of representing the State against BP in July 2010, his direct supervisor was Elizabeth Murrill who was the Deputy Executive Counsel to Bobby Jindal. In August 2010, Mark Brady replaced Murrill as PJ's direct supervisor, and Murrill moved into the interim or acting executive counsel position for Jindal.

While he’s working for the State against BP, the in-demand Cajun was also a court-appointed special master in at least 1 class action settlement in federal court - a 2004 settlement in the WDLA that still had money left in 1 or more funds. I’ll refer to it as the “BS” settlement.

Also in 2004, Elizabeth Murrill was retained by 1 of the class counsel in the BS settlement to help them at the Fairness Hearing in August 2004. Murrill didn’t perform any substantive work on the case.

Fast-forward to April 2011 when PJ is now contracted to the State. But, for a few hours over several days he’s also wearing his special master hat in the BS settlement. He makes a vague telephone request directly to Danny Clavier at Bourgeois Bennett (court-appointed disbursing agent for the settlement) asking if Clavier could search a specific class counsel's time and expense records to see if that class counsel submitted a specific expense for reimbursement. Clavier didn't fully understand the request and asked PJ to put it in writing. The next day, PJ makes another call to Clavier asking him the same vague question. Clavier again asked him for the details in an email. PJ sends Clavier an email with the details. Clavier conducts a search of the records and sends an email back to PJ telling him what was found.

In his billing records, PJ makes a nondescript billing entry saying he sent an "email to Danny Clavier regarding costs reimbursement." He also obscurely billed for reviewing Clavier’s response.

But, the CPAs billed for every second they spent on PJ’s project. They ultimately identified "Liz Murrill" as the expense PJ wanted to know about. She apparently had not been paid by the class counsel who retained her in 2004 and presumably asked PJ to look into that for her in 2011 while she was still Jindal's executive counsel, and may have been in the chain of command over PJ on the LOSCO work. According to his billing records, PJ and Murrill had a lot of contact throughout his representation of the State.

What’s wrong with this? The BS settlement billing records were sealed by order of the court at the request of class counsel. At least 1 contract attorney who performed extensive work that actually benefitted the class was forced to subpoena the identical information when she wasn’t able to get a class counsel to voluntarily pay her what he owed her. But, then again, she wasn’t anyone who could help or hurt PJ.

Jason Brad Berry said...

And Kevin, even if he was simply "following orders" I still want to know if he got a referral fee and most if so when that referral fee was paid to him....before, during or after he was negotiating his new job with the DHECC.

Anonymous said...

Does "following orders" make it legal?

Ashton O'Dwyer said...

Gee! I'm used to "facing" my accusers, not some nameless COWARDS who hide behind concealed identities. But here goes: To "ANONYMOUS" who commented on 11/18/14 @ 3:53 PM: "... is there anyone out there that believes it was legal for Juneau to bill the state for work done on behalf of a private claimant?" AROD never said or suggested that, and believes that Juneau AND Barbier BELONG IN JAIL for committing "Fraud upon the Court (and the Public)" and PERJURY. And to "ANONYMOUS" who commented on 11/18/14 @ 4:01 PM: See page 2 of the September 6, 2013 Freeh report to Judge Barbier, which clearly reflects that "...contradicting Ms. Reitano's assertion, Christina Mancuso, the AndryLerner attorney handling the Thonn claim, said Ms. Reitano contacted her about the Thonn claim and requested a referral fee." Perhaps YOU will produce any CONTRARY assertion by Ms. Mancuso, by affidavit or otherwise, which would subject her to a perjury prosecution. And to the very same "ANONYMOUS" commenter on 11/18/14 @ 4:01 PM, who said: "...but Freeh certainly used the accusations of corruption in his report, which were all found to be false...". Just which accusations were found to be false? BE SPECIFIC! Certainly, not the accusation which caused David Duval, the son of the "crooked as a snake" Federal Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr. to RESIGN, HUH? I said HUH? Precisely which of Freeh's accusations were found to be "false" by jurists who are "worthy of belief"? Ashton O'Dwyer.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Ashton....the world is not your enemy nor am I. Louis Freeh is a fucking shill.....it's been reported here and from multiple sources over and over. He is a capitalist, not an instrument of justice.


http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11863293/court-documents-indicate-ncaa-freeh-investigators-worked-together-penn-state-nittany-lions-investigation?src=mobile&rand=ref~%7B%22ref%22%3A%22http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FJv2xzQrzT0%22%7D

Anonymous said...

Good to have you back Jason.

While everyone's attention was diverted with the CA and BP’s quest to seek justice by SCOTUS a little adjustment was made at the claim centers numbers.

This week $ 795 MILLION DOLLARS in Eligibility Offers were pulled back from the BEL class.

Out of this amount $ 684 MILLION was Accepted Offers pending payments.

Compared to $ 6 MILLION in processed payments this week to BEL members.

IN-HALE

Anonymous said...

What motivation would Feinberg have to expedite the claim for Omega Protein, if it was in fact expedited? Did Juneau have that much influence?

Was this claim processed using methodologies and documentation standards which Juneau campaigned for with the GCCF? Or was this "windfall" simply a by-product of the methodologies used at the GCCF, similar to "windfall" payments previously discussed with the current settlement.

Is there anything suspect about the timing of the payment?

Kevin said...


"Does '"following orders"' make it legal?"

I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not qualified to answer that question. But, I am qualified to read, and this comes from PJ's contract with the LOSCO:

"The scope of this contract does not include litigation, unless requested by or consented to by the Attorney General, or PROCEEDINGS ARISING OUT OF OR INVOLVING TORT or worker's compensation." My emphasis.

PJ probably has a different interpretation of what the language means, but maybe he should have objected to carrying water for Omega Protein on the State's dime.

Kevin said...


Juneau and the State smoothed the path for Omega to receive $7.3 million and $11.4 million from Feinberg. These were "emergency" payments from the GCCF. , and were made without any

Then, in April 2011, Omega received a "settlement" from the GCCF for its loss of profits and other claims. According to Omega, the April payment was $26.2 million, NET of fees and expenses. Presumably these are attorney fees and expenses of some kind.

So, it's safe to say the total recovery by Omega actually exceeded $44.9 million.

Did the State recoup the taxpayers' money from Omega or its private counsel? No doubt the work and politics expended by the State and Juneau made it easier for Omega to recover an additional net $26.2 million, too.

Anonymous said...

$ 795 MILLION DOLLARS IN CLAIM OFFERS VAPORIZED.

When concrete turns to quick sand.

While everyone's attention was diverted with the CA and BP’s quest to seek justice by SCOTUS a little adjustment was made at the claim center reported numbers.

Prior to and at the Fairness Hearing we were told the settlement was clear, transparent and working as negotiated.

"I guess you can call that the hook so that claimants wouldn’t OPT OUT."

MR. GODFREY: 10:04 am Fairness Hearing Transcript.

The settlement is working as we anticipated and as we negotiated with Mr. Rice and Mr. Fayard.

Mr. Roy: 12:34 pm Fairness Hearing Transcript.

We did not want a hundred-plus-thousand claimants being subjected to what many people perceived were subjective claim reviews, like at the GCCF, or some kind of star chamber subjective evaluation that they just didn't -- that wasn’t transparent.

Mr. Roy: 12:35 pm Fairness Hearing Transcript.

So transparency was critical. To have it transparent, you had to have your compensation and your
causation calculation formulas objectively ascertainable. They are. That's what this settlement does.

Now for the slide of hand and a wave of the magic wand presto change oh.
In comes Policy 495 generated by captured data submitted to the claim center.

That's right last week $ 795 MILLION DOLLARS in Eligibility Offers were pulled back from the BEL class.

VAPORIZED RIGHT FROM UNDER YOU NOSE!

Out of this amount $ 684 MILLION was Accepted Offers pending payments most with signed releases.

NO LONGER VALID OFFERS OR APPEALS WON WAITING FOR PAYMENT.


IN-HALE