SARASOTA, FLA While BP looks to the U.S. Supreme Court for help in raising the bar on who deserves oil-spill settlement money, claimants in the Sarasota area are disappointed.
Paula Mayer says business is only now getting better at her restaurant on Tuttle near Bee Ridge--four years after she says the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. History caused her a loss of customers.
"Because people were not coming to Siesta Beach becaues they (erroneously) heard the spill had gone all the way down the coast of Florida," she said.
Paula filed a $15 thousand dollar claim against BP to recoup her perceived losses--and though BP has paid out over $9 billion dollars--she has yet to get an answer.
"They're constantly asking me for more information, more paperwork , it's just unbelievable," she said.
And it doesn't appear she'll get an answer anytime soon--and here's why: BP plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether it must pay damages without proof the spill caused losses.
Paula Mayer hopes money arrives for her soon.
"When am I going to get a settlement?"
Even though the oil spill never came to the Sarasota area--the threat of it caused B.P. to pay a reported $40 million dollars to nearly 3,000 claimants in this area.
