Ellington

A dispute between Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and the administrator of BP's $20 billion oil-spill fund will be settled in state, not federal, court.

Earlier this year, Hood requested access to oil-spill victim's claims from BP's oil-spill fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg, who oversees the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which disburses funds to people the 2010 oil spill affected. The White House set up the independent entity to act as BP's surrogate to speed up the claims process for the millions of oil-spill victims in the tourism, fishing and casino industry.

However, Feinberg refused to fully cooperate and tried to delay complying with Hood's subpoena by moving the case to federal court, Hood said today. Carlton W. Reeves, district judge, Southern District of Mississippi, disagreed. He determined that removing the case to federal court was improper.

Hood said his office has received a lot of complaints from people who contend that BP denied their claims without proper review. He said his office wants full access to GCCF claims-records to determine if the procedures for processing claims comply with fair trade practices.

"All the evidence points to the fact he has something to hide," Hood said of Feinberg.

The attorney general has monitored BP's payout process since the oil company began making damage payments to spill victims. In a letter of interest in January 2011, Hood said discussions between GCCF officials and a host of attorneys general representing oil-damaged states "have unfortunately met with only limited success."

Hood is not the only state attorney general monitoring BP's payment process. Attorneys general from Florida, Texas and Alabama have joined him to submit a list of concerns to GCCF.