Opinion ID: 2675187
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The October 10, 2012 Policy Statement

Text: As a part of claims processing, the Claims Administrator issues occasional policy statements on various issues. The October 10, 2012 Policy Statement addressed a specific issue relevant to causation. As that Policy Statement explains, it was agreed after discussions among the parties and the Claims Administrator that a claimant establishes causation by satisfying the criteria set forth in Exhibit 4B even if additional or alternative explanations for a claimant’s loss might exist: The Settlement Agreement represents the Parties’ negotiated agreement on the criteria that must be satisfied in order for a claimant to establish causation. Once causation is established, the Settlement Agreement further provides specific formulae by which compensation is to be measured. All such matters are negotiated terms that are an integral part of the Settlement Agreement. The Settlement Agreement does not contemplate that the Claims Administrator will undertake additional analysis of causation issues beyond those criteria that are specifically set out in the Settlement Agreement. Both Class Counsel and BP have in response to the Claims Administrator’s inquiry confirmed that this is in fact a correct statement of their intent and of the terms of the Settlement Agreement. The Claims Administrator will thus compensate eligible Business Economic Loss and Individual Economic Loss claimants for all losses payable under the terms of the Economic Loss frameworks in the Settlement Agreement, without regard to whether such losses resulted or may have resulted from a cause other than the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 9 Case: 13-30315 Document: 00512635492 Page: 10 Date Filed: 05/19/2014 No. 13-30315 provided such claimants have satisfied the specific causation requirements set out in the Settlement Agreement. Further, the Claims Administrator will not evaluate potential alternative causes of the claimant’s economic injury, other than the analysis required by Exhibit 8A of whether an Individual Economic Loss claimant was terminated from a Claiming Job for cause. The above language does not abandon any claimant’s allegation of Article III causation. Left in place is that the Claims Administrator must establish causation for settlement purposes with respect to every claim under the specific criteria and formulae that BP and Class Counsel agreed would be utilized for that purpose. The Policy Statement makes clear that there is no “additional analysis of causation issues beyond those criteria” in Exhibit 4B. It is true that the phrase appears that claims will be paid “without regard to whether such losses resulted or may have resulted from a cause other than” the Deepwater Horizon disaster. This language, though, is not an assertion by the Claims Administrator that he will pay claimants regardless of whether their losses are alleged to be traceable to BP’s conduct. We cannot ignore the context for the language. The Policy Statement states this: “Once causation is established” under the approach of Exhibit 4B, the Claims Administrator will not be concerned with the possibility that a particular claimed injury might have been caused in whole or part by other events. To summarize, causation is established by certain factors set out in Exhibit 4B that the parties agreed were a sufficient indirect way to satisfy the goal of connecting a claim to BP’s conduct in the Gulf. The parties did not reject the need to establish a connection. Instead, they agreed to a means for doing so that sufficiently satisfied each party’s litigation interests. The Policy Statement itself explains that its treatment of possible alternative causes was “a correct statement of their intent and the terms of the Settlement Agreement.” Exhibit 4B can be analogized to a stipulation at trial. If parties 10 Case: 13-30315 Document: 00512635492 Page: 11 Date Filed: 05/19/2014 No. 13-30315 stipulate to an element of a claim, no proof at trial will be needed. Here, they stipulated to the form of the proof that would demonstrate causation. We do not accept that the phrasing of the October 2012 Policy Statement, particularly the “without regard to whether such losses resulted” from other causes, either discards the carefully crafted approach of Exhibit 4B or creates an unconstitutional breach in the boundaries of the Class Definition. It also does not negate the claimants’ allegations of Article III causation. We reach these conclusions, first, because neither the Policy Statement nor Exhibit 4B has anything to do with allegations in the complaint or with the Class Definition. Deepwater Horizon II held that Article III standing in this case has been met at the pleading stage and in the Class Definition. 739 F.3d at 804-805. We accept that conclusion. The Policy Statement and Exhibit 4B apply later during settlement administration when the Claims Administrator examines the claimants’ documentation. Second, the parties agreed that the evidentiary criteria of Exhibit 4B were a sufficient substitute for a full trial of factual causation by a preponderance of the evidence. Finally, the Policy Statement does not alter Exhibit 4B. The “without regard” language is inartful but not invalidating. In fact, there was substantial regard given to causation in the creation of the elaborate criteria that substituted for proof of factual causation as a separate element of the claim. The Policy Statement did nothing more than state the most reasonable explanation of what Exhibit 4B meant if some other cause might appear during claims processing to have been a factor. The accepted conclusion follows readily from Exhibit 4B, which explicitly does not require direct evidence of causation but instead requires each claimant to present documentation that substituted for proof by a preponderance of the evidence at trial. The Claims Administrator did not thereby expand the class beyond its definition. Exhibit 11 Case: 13-30315 Document: 00512635492 Page: 12 Date Filed: 05/19/2014 No. 13-30315 4B was the compromise reached by the parties on how an extremely difficult part of the claims process was to be handled. The Policy Statement simply states that the compromise still controls even when its accuracy as a substitute for direct evidence of causation as to a particular claim is questionable. In settling this lawsuit, the parties agreed on a substitute for direct proof of causation by a preponderance of the evidence. By settling this lawsuit and agreeing to the evidentiary framework for submitting claims, the claimants did not abandon their allegations of Article III causation. The petition for rehearing is DENIED. 12