![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Bird-in-Oil-Spill-300x215.jpg\")
<\/a>Were you in business or operating a non-profit during the BP Oil Spill in April, 2010?\u00a0 This is the sixth in a series explaining the Court Supervised Settlement. \u00a0At this link<\/a>, you can find the first five installments. \u00a0 (For questions regarding your eligibility in the Settlement Program, use\u00a0this contact form<\/a>.<\/em>)<\/p>\nBecause of the complexity of the agreement, a cursory review of financial statements by business owners may result in the conclusion that they cannot participate. When a team of lawyers, CPA s and Chartered Financial Analysts review the same materials often six and seven-figure claims are identified. \u00a0It is advisable to have an appropriate team of professionals to determine the existence and value of any possible claim.<\/p>\n
THE EVALUATION PROCESS AND CONTINGENCY FEES<\/strong><\/p>\n A professional evaluation begins with an\u00a0authorization<\/a>\u00a0to a law firm to represent the client\u2019s interests in the BP Settlement Process.\u00a0 Once a client provides monthly profit-and-loss statements and related tax returns for the years 2007 through 2011,\u00a0that information is evaluated. \u00a0If business operations do not cover all those years, of course, only the periods of operation are needed. 2007 to 2011 are periods that may be used in calculations involving the claims process, and having the data for all years allowed can affect both eligibility and maximizing a claim\u2019s value.<\/p>\n The first step is to determine if a valid claim exists. \u00a0 When the work is done for the client on a contingency basis, should the team determine no claim exists, the client will have no costs. \u00a0If the evaluation indicates a valid claim, further work will be done to calculate the claim’s value, \u00a0prepare and file the claim. \u00a0 In the event of an unsuccessful claim, with a proper contingency agreement the client owes nothing.\u00a0 For a successful claim, an agreed upon percentage of the paid claim will determine the professional fees.<\/p>\n TIME FRAMES INVOLVED IN THE CLAIM PROCESS<\/strong><\/p>\n When an evaluation indicates a valid claim, the Settlement Program requires final documents.\u00a0 Upon receipt and preparation of the final documents, the claim is submitted to the court\u2019s Claims Administrator. \u00a0Once the administrator makes a finding, a Letter of Determination is issued.\u00a0 Currently payments are being made within four to six months following the Letter of Determination.<\/p>\n The Claims Administrator is expecting more than 800,000 claims. Claims are being handled on a first in\/first out basis. \u00a0As more claims are filed, the time line for payment grows longer.\u00a0 With that in mind, it is better to file sooner rather than later.\u00a0\u00a0There is no cost to inquire about your eligibility\u00a0at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Were you in business or operating a non-profit during the BP Oil Spill in April, 2010?\u00a0 This is the sixth in a series explaining the Court Supervised Settlement. \u00a0At this… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}