BP Agrees to $20 Billion Gulf Coast Claims Fund Amid Deepwater Horizon Fallout

BP agreed to establish a $20 billion independent claims fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, administered by Kenneth Feinberg. By July 2011, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility had paid $3.7 billion to 198,475 claimants. The fund, while unprecedented in its scale, faced significant criticism for slow processing and potential underpayment, with an independent audit revealing over 7,000 claimants were either denied or underpaid claims.