Death Payouts in BP Spill Start at $8 Million

Dionne Searcey - 

Settlements with families of workers killed in last year's Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion are running at $8 million to $9 million so far, a range sharply inflated by companies' interest in avoiding another possible wave of bad publicity from the accident.

This "Deepwater premium," as plaintiffs' lawyers call it, is at the heart of talks involving the families of the 11 dead men, rig owner Transocean Ltd., well owner BP PLC and other companies. The premium also figures in the cases of scores of others who claim they were injured in the Gulf of Mexico accident.

The companies are eager to settle the cases and avoid widely publicized trials, according to people familiar with the talks. If the cases end up before Gulf states jurors, many of whom were affected by the spill, that could lead to huge awards.

The settlements, according to lawyers on both sides, are several million dollars higher than in similar types of wrongful-death cases. Lawyers who handle such cases typically come up with a settlement range using data published in "worklife tables" from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or other formulas that take into account such factors as life expectancy, wages lost, marital status and surviving children.

Separately, the Justice Department is considering a broad range of civil and criminal charges against some of the people and companies involved in the oil spill, including involuntary-manslaughter charges for any acts of reckless negligence contributing to the deaths, according to a person familiar with the matter. The department declined to comment on Tuesday.

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