A federal judge has upheld a magistrate's ruling that BP must pay more than $130 million in fees to the court-supervised administrator of a multibillion-dollar settlement over the company's 2010 Gulf oil spill.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal judge has upheld a magistrate's ruling that BP must pay more than $130 million in fees to the court-supervised administrator of a multibillion-dollar settlement over the company's 2010 Gulf oil spill.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled Wednesday only hours after Magistrate Sally Shushan heard arguments from a BP attorney and court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau.
The ruling comes as BP tries to temporarily block claims payments while allegations of misconduct by an attorney who worked on the settlement program are investigated.
BP said it wasn't reasonable to pay for Juneau's third-quarter budget proposal without more documentation. But Barbier said he didn't want to risk shutting down a program that benefits thousands who claim BP's oil spill cost them money.