Oil company BP Plc opened up a new front in its battle with litigants in its U.S. oil spill trial on Tuesday, filing a fraud suit against Mikal Watts, the lawyer who represented seamen claiming economic injury as a result of the disaster.
In a statement, BP said it had also asked for payments from the Seafood Settlement Compensation program, into which it has paid $2.3 billion, to be suspended while its allegations are investigated.
In its lawsuit BP claims some of Watts’s clients were “phantoms” carrying social security numbers that belonged to either living people that were not the named claimants or in some cases to people who were dead.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
DOJ Sues SeaWorld’s Parent Company for Disability Discrimination 
Berkshire-Owned PacifiCorp Wins Ruling That Could Reduce Wildfire Damages 
Convicted Insurance Mogul Lindberg Should Pay $1.6B Restitution to Companies 
US Truck Rates at Highest Since 2022 Add to Inflation Pressures 
Want to stay up to date?
Get the latest insurance news
sent straight to your inbox.