BP to appeal Deepwater Horizon claims to Supreme Court

HOUSTON, May 22 (UPI) -- No reasonable judgment would force a company to pay for damages it didn't cause, BP said as it takes its Deepwater Horizon claims case to the Supreme Court.

The British energy company said it would ask the Supreme Court to review a decision from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court, which ruled a "compromise" deal means the company may have to write checks to businesses for claims BP says have nothing to do with the 2010 oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.

"No company would agree to pay for losses that it did not cause, and BP certainly did not when it entered into this settlement," the company said in a Wednesday statement. "BP will continue to fight to return the settlement to its original, explicit, and lawful purpose -- the compensation of claimants who suffered actual losses due to the spill."

If the 5th Circuit's ruling stands, the company said, it would "fundamentally redefine" rulings related to class-action settlements.

Dissenting Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement said in her opinion the ruling would give BP's money to "undeserving non-victims" of the 2010 spill.

A cascading series of failures at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, leased from Transocean by BP, led to the deaths of 11 rig workers and resulted in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.