BP PLC wants access to documents detailing flaws in the distribution of Deepwater Horizon oil-spill claims only to feed its public relations campaign against the $9.6 billion settlement, lawyers who filed objections to the move argued this week.
The report, released on Jan. 17 by special master Louis Freeh, accused a former official of the settlement claims office of mishandling an email regarding a claim, and said that he and two other former claims officials had frequented a New Orleans bar that received $500,000 in oil-spill compensation. Freeh, former director of the FBI, recommended procedural changes to address such conflicts of interest.
