Opinion ID: 2799728
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Deepwater Horizon II

Text: BP next challenged the class certification as violating Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 and Article III of the Constitution. In re Deepwater Horizon (Deepwater Horizon II), 739 F.3d 790, 795 (5th Cir. 2014). At issue in Deepwater Horizon II was the district court’s affirmance of two Claims Administrator Policy Announcements that interpreted Exhibits 4B and 4C of the Agreement. Id. at 795–96. The Claims Administrator determined that Exhibit 4B, which sets forth various causation requirements for claimants, did not require any further proof of causation once a claimant had met one of the 4B criteria. Id. at 797. The Claims Administrator also determined that Exhibit 4C, which provides the formula to calculate payments for BEL claimants, allowed the Claims Administrator to use the cash or accrual method of accounting in the calculation. Id. BP argued that these interpretations broadened the class to include members whose injuries were not caused by the oil spill, in violation of Article III and Rule 23. Id. at 798–99. We noted that the Fifth Circuit had not addressed the standard for Article III standing at the class-certification stage 5 Case: 13-31296 Document: 00513036479 Page: 6 Date Filed: 05/08/2015 No. 13-31296 c/w Nos. 13-31299, 13-31302 and that other circuits are split between two tests. Id. at 800–02. We held that the Agreement passed both tests and therefore declined to decide which approach was correct. Id. at 813. We also rejected BP’s numerous arguments that the Policy Announcements included class members with no injury and therefore violated Rule 23. Id. at 812–21.