BP spends $7.8bn to settle oil spill claims (so far)

BP has reached agreements with 100,000 individual plaintiffs to resolve claims from the 2010 oil spill - costing the company $7.8bn.

The money - to resolve economic, property and medical claims from the destruction caused by the spill on the Gulf of Mexico - will come from the $20bn fund put aside by BP to cover the costs of the spill. The London-based oil company also asked a US judge for a long delay in any trials over the remaining disputes, due to the  "markedly different opinions" between the plaintiffs' lawyers and BP, according to Reuters. "Neither side will receive everything it wants," but the settlements are "more than fair, reasonable and adequate" and could avert a decade of litigation, said papers file...