BP Aims to Dismiss Shareholder Claims Over Oil Disaster

(May 9, 2011) — BP has asked a judge to discard investor claims over the oil spill last year, which caused massive stock market losses.

In June of last year, President Obama sat down with BP officials and agreed to a $20 billion fund for claims that would be funded by BP, but run by the government. The intense political pressure from the US led BP to suspend its quarterly dividend payments.

Yet, shareholders have continued to voice discontent. Led by the pensions of both New York and Ohio, shareholders are now claiming billions of dollars in losses over the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, seeking recovery from BP and its directors and officers. While BP has publicly reiterated its commitment to safety, investors are claiming that the firm violated US securities laws by misleading them about the spill and its aftermath.

According to a filing, obtained by Bloomberg, the investors aim to “transform a matter involving allegedly negligent safety processes into an action for securities fraud’’ and that “securities laws do not protect investors against negligence.’’

Since the crisis, pension funds have continued to be active participants in putting pressure on BP. In early April, two large US pension funds — the $234.7 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the $156.8 billion Tallahassee-based Florida State Board of Administration (FSBA) — joined a list voting against BP at its annual general meeting over anger at the oil spill. “CalPERS is concerned with the absence of information related to key performance indicators and re-evaluation of the board’s role in oversight of risk management,” the nation’s largest public pension said in a statement.