BP Drops $1 Billion Seafood Industry Spill Payments Fight

Company accused lawyers of inflating Gulf spill client rolls
One lawyer facing July trial accused of submitting fake names

PORT SULPHER, LA - JUNE 19: An oil stained pelican sits on a dredging hose in Barataria Bay June 19, 2010 near Port Sulpher, Louisiana. The BP oil spill has been called one of the largest environmental disasters in American history.
Photographer: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

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By Laurel Brubaker Calkins and Margaret Cronin Fisk

May 3, 2016 at 12:51 AM UTC

Updated on

May 3, 2016 at 5:04 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

After fighting for more than two years to avoid paying almost $1 billion in oil spill damages to Gulf Coast shrimpers, oystermen and seafood processors it claimed didn’t exist, BP Plc has thrown in the towel.

“We have withdrawn our claims seeking an injunction against payments by the Seafood Program so the program can be concluded,” Geoff Morrell, a BP spokesman, said in an e-mail Tuesday. The company will keep pursuing fraud claims against lawyer Mikal Watts and his firm, Morrell said. Watts was indicted for allegedly making false claims in connection with the BP spill.