Ken Feinberg: Oil spill claims changes made to answer Justice Department concerns

Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 7:16 PM ??? Updated: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 7:17 PM

MOBILE, Ala. -- Oil spill claims czar Ken Feinberg said Tuesday that he made several changes to his final claims process to answer concerns that a Justice Department official raised last week.?

Feinberg also agreed to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Tom Perrelli’s request to process all emergency claims by Dec. 15.?

Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility stopped accepting new emergency claims Nov. 23, but there are more than 67,000 still awaiting review and another 147,000 that require more financial documentation before they can be approved.?

Feinberg has approved payments for more than 140,000 claimants and given out more than $2.1 billion across the Gulf Coast.?

Feinberg also said he would make the following changes that were requested by Perrelli in a Nov. 19 letter:?

• Interim payments will be given out more frequently than once every three months if the claimant shows a need for it.?
• When claimants accept a final settlement from BP PLC, the release of liability they have to sign will not waive their right to seek future payment for physical injury, including behavioral health claims, unless the payment specifically covered such damage.?
• A limited appeals process will be included allowing both claimants and BP to dispute payment amounts. Feinberg will choose a retired state or federal judge to name the members of the appeals panel.?

Feinberg did not, however, agree to a wording change that could be important.?

Perrelli had asked Feinberg to change the protocol to make it clear that the claims operation would pay all people damaged "as a result of" the spill. Feinberg said that he would continue to use the term "proximate cause" as his standard.?

Dane Ciolino, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans, said the "as a result of" standard, also known as "actual cause," means that a claimant would just need to show that their damage linked back to the spill, whereas proximate cause calls for a much more direct connection.?

"If you drew a Venn diagram, actual cause would be the big circle, while proximate cause is the little circle inside it," he said.?

Feinberg told Perrelli in his letter that he believes his operation will be more generous than the law requires, regardless of the language.?

In the letter, Feinberg also told Perrelli that he would make his operation more transparent, although he did not offer specific details as to how he would do so.?

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Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker demands opponent pull 'slanderous' TV ad on taxes

Published: Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 4:59 PM ??? Updated: Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 5:41 PM

Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker today demanded that his Democratic opponent pull a “slanderous and defamatory” TV ad that claims Parker does not pay his taxes.

The ad for Mac Parsons, a judge in the Bessemer division of Jefferson County Circuit Court, accuses Parker of having “thousands in tax liens” and “years of unpaid taxes” while he has served on the state’s highest court.

An attorney for Parker, Al Agricola, sent a letter today to Parsons, threatening to sue his campaign for slander and file charges with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission.

“The simple fact is that Justice Parker has the records to verify that your accusation that he ‘does not pay his taxes,’ and the allegations contained in your advertisement are baseless, false, slanderous and misleading,” Agricola wrote.

Parsons was not backing down today, however. His campaign released a statement reiterating the accusations. “Instead of getting lawyers to write letters, Tom Parker should explain to the people of Alabama why he doesn’t pay his taxes,” he said.

The Alabama Republican Party provided documentation from the state Department of Revenue showing that it removed a $548.18 lien in August 2003 after determining that the agency was incorrect.

In the ad, a narrator points out that Parker earns $160,000 a year as a Supreme Court justice.

“But Tom Parker doesn’t pay his taxes. The authorities hit Parker with thousands in tax liens — Alabama tax liens, federal tax liens,” he says. “Years of unpaid taxes while Parker’s been serving on Alabama’s Supreme Court. A Supreme Court justice who doesn’t pay his taxes. That’s really all you need to know about Tom Parker.”

The Department of Revenue document, signed by the assistant commissioner of revenue, stated that Parker and his wife provided information indicating that they had paid the taxes in dispute.

“Therefore, the assessment is declared to be erroneous and not a liability due the state; consequently, the assessment is rescinded, and the accrued interest on the assessment is hereby abated,” the order states.

Republican officials pointed out that the matter was cleared up more than a year before Parker joined the court in 2005. They also said that the reference to “thousands in unpaid taxes” appears to be the result of mistaken identity.

Party officials said the liens were placed against the estate of Parker’s father, Thomas F. Parker III.

But Parsons’ campaign said Parker is responsible for liens filed against the estate because he was the executor and one of the beneficiaries. The justice’s father died in 1983, two decades or more before the liens were filed.

The Parsons campaign provided documentation showing federal liens totaling $5,650.10 issued in June 2003 for tax years 1999 through 2001. The federal government also issued a pair of liens in October 2005 totaling $253.04 for tax years 1997 and 2002.

All of the liens were released in May 2007, according to records. That is two years after Parker took office, Parsons’ campaign pointed out.

“In fact, I will meet Tom Parker at the Montgomery County Probate Office, where these liens are filed, and he can explain how these liens, in his name, at his address, aren’t really his,” Parsons stated.

Parker spokesman Matt Chancey said Parsons’ accusation in the ad — that the justice does not pay is taxes — is literally untrue. He said Parker is the administrator of the estate but receives no income from it.

Chancey said the liens arose from a dispute over depreciation allowances, a disagreement similar to ones that thousands of honest taxpayers have every year.

Chancey said Parsons’ ad first began airing in the Birmingham media market last week and since has spread to most of the state. He estimated that Parsons bought $250,000 to $300,000 worth of air time.

(Updated at 6:32 p.m. to include a response from Parsons and 6:55 p.m. to include a reply from Parker).

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Mike Bolin justice gets most of the funds by a handful of Cap

Published: Monday, October 25 2010 6 H.

From mid-April to the middle of September, Supreme Court of Alabama Mike Bolin raised $582,380 for his re-election campaign, with donations from 80 different sources, according to its latest campaign finance reports.

Is strongly, however, on a small number of this cap total.Quatre political action committees there $501,000, accounting 86 per cent of its journey.

Several fundraising reports are due this week of candidates for the general election of November 2.

Legal and political analysts have long expressed concern donations of high-dollar fuel the perception that a small number of interests powerful most important judicial control of Alabama.

The Supreme Court of Alabama has the last word on all questions of law and determines if prize of the jury in civil cases and verdicts will pursue or be sent to further tests.

"When the judicial candidates get large sums of money from a source - I don't care what it is, counsel for trial, company - he began to create a look and I insist on appearance, that justice is purchased," said Jess Brown, Professor of political science at the University of Athens Athens State.

Bolin repeatedly, a Republican who seek a second term in six years against Democrat Tom Edwards, rejected the notion of any link between its decisions and campaign contributions.

"Justice Bolin keep score of who wins or perd.Il keep track of which lawyers are in a case."There fair rules on law, "said campaign spokesman Scott Stone." ""Justice Bolin, likes to say, has no friends in the courtroom.?

Campaign last two finance reports Bolin shows three gifts of Commission reform of civil justice Alabama totaling $250,000.The Group was inspired in large part to a list of donors consisting of Cap representing companies insurance, builders and other entreprises.Progrès CAP, which is affiliated to the Board of company of Alabama, chipped in $200,000.

Brown said that he believed that controls with long strings of zeros can make an impact, even on a judge. ""It's human nature if you wear dresses or black", he said.

Edwards, former President of the association of trial counsel for the Crown, made campaign finance a crusade personnelle.Il developed a dedicated Web site in part to the topic.

Collected Bolin has raised almost as much a single cheque of $125,000 progress may 25 as Edwards Cap-$_126,572 - during the campaign.

Edwards is not without its big-dollar contributions .PAC Alabama, A-VOTE Education Association, he gave $ 25,000 to the State Democratic Party kicked in $29, 500.Cunningham Bounds, a law firm mobile well known generally represents the plaintiffs in civil litigation, has contributed $ 10,000, and the AFL-CIO Alabama chipped in $4,000.

Edwards, who leads a solo practice of Montgomery, lists donations from a number of law firms in the State acknowledges that it has received funds interest spécial.Par numbers, he was known to $58,000 overall state of the Democratic Party.

But Edwards believes could be exceeded those / 10-to-1.

"I am concerned about the amount of money," he said.

Another Democrat running of the High Court, Rhonda Chambers, followed a path of fundraiser similar, even if it has received more money than Edwards-$_192,169 - in his race against Republican Kelli Wise.

Wise, judge of the Court of criminal appeal, Alabama has collected $53,760 this year, according to the most recent reports.

Earlier:

Paying for his campaign, Justice Tom Parker, the darling of former Chief Justice Roy Moore and social conservatives turned into action committees political ties with the Democrats and the interests of game, a review of his financial reports shows.

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