BP Claims Process Guidelines

BP will pay all necessary response costs and is committed to paying legitimate claims for other loss and/or damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon incident. BP takes full responsibility for responding to the Deepwater Horizon incident, and will pay appropriate compensation.
Individual and business claimants may file a claim in one of three ways:
Call the Deepwater Horizon response hotline number at 1-800-440-0858
File a claim online at www.bp.com/claims
Visit one of BP's Claims Centers.
http://www.bp.com/claims
Claim Representatives will then take the following actions:
Contact the claimant.
Obtain and verify the your identity and collect a detailed description of the claim. In most cases, claims can be handled over the phone, with you providing documentation by mail, e-mail or fax. In some instances the Claim Representative will meet with you to obtain additional information and documentation.
Inspect and photograph damaged property. A repair/replacement estimate may be prepared.
For business interruption losses, Claims Representatives will determine the amount of time the business was not operational. They will request financial records including profit and loss statements and tax returns.
If a claim is rejected, you will be notified in writing that no payment will be made, and the reason for that decision.
Interim Payments
BP believes that it is appropriate to provide interim payments to claimants who are not receiving their ordinary income or profit while cleanup is underway. This allows for additional documents to be provided by the claimant and for the claim to be fully evaluated.
Within 48 hours of receiving supporting documentation, the claim will be evaluated and you will be notified if an advance payment will be provided for your claim.
The advance payment will be up to the equivalent of one month lost income, based on the documentation you have provided to support the claim. This advance is not based on actual income and may need to be adjusted for any secondary payment if the advance exceeds actual income. If a second payment is necessary, such payment will be based on actual loss of income and the documents provided. If the event continues beyond 1 month, claimants will continue to receive any future payments electronically.
The check for the advance payment will be available at the nearest BP Claims Center, the location of which will be communicated to the you. Alternative arrangements can be made if this method of check delivery is not feasible.

Deaf on Gulf Coast (Oil Spill)

It has been reported to that there may be deaf fishermen or others on the Gulf Coast who are not getting all the information they need about the oil spill because of a lack of sign language interpreters. If you know of anyone in the affected areas who needs a sign language interpreter at any of the public meetings to inform people about the spill, please tell them to call the Advocacy Center. We would like to help.

NOTE: Walker Estes is a board member of the Advocacy Center and can contact him for assistance at awestes@msn.com or 225.302.8555 vp.

Advocacy Center
1010 Common Street, Suite 2600
New Orleans, LA 70112
1.800.960.7705 (Voice) • 1.866.935.7348 (TTY)