BP Liability Trial Set for January; Judge Grants Preliminary Approval of Settlement

HOUSTON—The federal judge presiding over the BP oil spill case reset the limitation and liability trial for Jan. 14, 2013 (In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010).

The action came one day after Judge Carl Barbier of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted preliminary approval of an estimated $7.8 billion class action settlement of private economic loss and medical claims of individuals harmed by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The judge set the ...