On April 20, 2010, a major Gulf of Mexico oil spill began with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling rig. The explosion took eleven lives that day, and the oil spill ultimately overwhelmed the Gulf of Mexico for more than three months in 2010. A complete history of the event is available from various online resources, including but not limited to Wikipedia.
Nearly five million barrels of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico for more than one-quarter of 2010. Matters were made worse when BP used chemical dispersants to “deal with the oil,” the same chemicals were found to be far more dangerous than the oil on its own would have been to the Gulf. As the spill continued unchecked, all of the damage brought about by the BP oil spill began to manifest in damage to marine animals; damage to habitats for marine animals; and damage to both fishing and tourism industries. The economy of the entire Gulf Coast was ultimately negatively impacted.
Nearly three years after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, business owners from Pasco Country to Collier County do not realize that their business suffered a negative impact from articles about the oil spill. The loss of tourism revenues took substantial funds out of the local economy at the worst possible time, as the world was firmly entrenched in a recession that still lingers. It did not matter that the only obvious signs of the oil spill reached no farther than the panhandle, the entire Gulf Coast felt the effects in money that was not spent within the borders of Florida.
Businesses along the entire Florida Gulf Coast have a chance to recover their losses by filing a BP oil spill claim. There is currently $7.8 billion earmarked by BP to satisfy such claims.
If you have never filed a BP oil spill claim, now is the time to review your options. If you previously had your BP oil spill claim denied, you will want to look at that claim again because rules and regulations have changed.
Contact the office of Frank Charles Miranda, P.A. to discuss your options for a BP oil spill claim. We can be reached by calling 813.254.2637.