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May 3, 2010: BP Says "Misstep" in Waiver Language

By Mark Zamora

BP  said on Monday that waiver clauses in contracts it offered to Alabama fishermen to help fight the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had drawn allegations that it was trying to buy them off to give up the right to sue the company.

"That was an early misstep," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told National Public Radio, when asked about Alabama media reports about a waiver campaign.

"It was a standard contract the team was using," Hayward said, referring to a contract BP recruiters used to hire fishermen and their boats to assist in deploying booms to help try to contain the oil spill before it reached the U.S. coast.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King told Reuters that although he had no first-hand knowledge of the alleged BP waivers practice, he had been told it involved offers of payments of up to $5,000 to people affected by the oil spill who agreed not to sue the company.

"They're saying that it was a mistake and that they've corrected it. But the fact remains that there are people in Alabama who believe that BP was offering them $5,000 in exchange for a release (from liability)," King told Reuters.

From:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0315696620100503

Full post as published by Trial Lawyer Resource Center on May 03, 2010 (boomark / email).