WikimediaThe City-Parish Council on Tuesday will vote on an introductory ordinance that, if approved for final adoption in two weeks, would clear the way for contracting with a law firm to pursue a cash settlement related to the BP oil spill.
City-parish attorney Mike Hebert says there is already “a tentative settlement with all government claimants” and that Lafayette Consolidated Government is just one among “well over 500” government entities that filed a claim in connection with the spill. However, citing a confidentiality agreement LCG signed with the feds, he declined to disclose what LCG’s claim is. (Presumably it is connected with revenue lost to a drop-off in tourism to South Louisiana in the weeks and months after the April 2010 spill.)
The ordinance calls of the appointment of Paul Sterbcow and the firm Lewis, Kullman, Sterbcow & Abramson as special counsel and authorizes the execution of a contract for legal services. Sterbcow and the firm, according to the ordinance, would get 15 percent of any monies recovered on behalf of LCG.
“There is a settlement in the works,” Hebert adds, alluding to an executive session, which the public isn’t privy to, by the council at a meeting two weeks ago.