NEW ORLEANS–A federal appeals court has cleared the way for thousands of workers to be compensated for medical treatment for exposure to crude oil or chemical dispersants during the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The April 20, 2010, blowout of BP's Macondo well killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons (litres) of oil into the Gulf.
The Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals' action involves a settlement approved by a federal judge in January 2013 between BP, workers and some coastal residents from specified beachfront and wetlands areas who said they were injured or sickened during the spill clean-up.
Objections by some members of the settlement class were withdrawn over the past year, resulting in the formal dismissal of appeals. The medical settlement is separate from a larger economic damages settlement, which remains the subject of an appeal. Neither side estimated the potential monetary value of the settlement.
AP