Lawyers To Staff Oil Spill Claims Offices

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The group administering BP's compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill has hired several law firms and a claims administration company to help people applying for shares of the $20 billion fund.

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility announced Tuesday that the lawyers will be staffing claims offices in Biloxi, Miss., eastern New Orleans and in several Florida cities.

The GCCF says it has paid about $2.6 billion to nearly 168,000 claimants in the past four months.

Attorneys for people and businesses suing over the Gulf oil spill want a federal judge overseeing their cases to rein in the fund's administrator, Ken Feinberg. The attorneys argued last week that Feinberg should be told not to offer free legal advice to potential claimants.