As businesses collapse, claimants still waiting for checks from BP

The oil giant says 20,000 of the 42,000 claims filed have been paid. But many affected financially by the oil spill report no responses, answers or relief.

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times
June 14, 2010 Reporting from Gulf Shores, Ala. — Real estate agent Mike Reynolds had two desirable beachfront condos in escrow when the tide of crude from the Deepwater Horizon spill washed over his business and left it looking about as appetizing as an oiled crab. “I lost $20,000 in commission,” Reynolds said. “The guy called and said he’d never be able to make any money off of them. He walked away from a $10,000 earnest-money check.” Just a few miles east of Reynolds’ Gulf Shores condos, restaurant owner Matt Shipp has seen his Orange Beach business plummet by 90%, even before thick masses of oily seaweed painted the white sand beach Saturday. He put in a claim for $35,000 in lost business for May, and after more than 40 days of phone calls and faxes, got approved for $18,000. When will he get the money, he asked BP’s adjuster, the fourth one to whom he had been passed. “He said, ‘I don’t know,’ ” Shipp said. “I said, ‘Who will send it to me?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘Is it a check? A bank transfer?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.’ As of today, I still don’t have the funds. And that’s only May. What about June? It’s been even worse in June.” Across the gulf, residents already shell-shocked by the tar balls, oil soup and dead sea life washing up on their beaches are getting hit with a second wave: the sudden collapse of their livelihoods, and the equally intimidating challenge of getting BP to pay for it. … “What the future will hold, I have no idea,” said Emma Chighizola, owner of the Blue Water Souvenirs shop on Grand Isle, a barrier island full of colorful beach cabins at the southern tip of Louisiana that is normally flush with pink, sweaty tourists this time of year. “We’ve never been through anything like this. We’ve been through a lot of hurricanes and we always came back. We knew what to expect. This, we don’t.” For now, cleanup workers have booked all the local rooms, but the shop’s shelves remain tightly stocked with porpoise paperweights, shell necklaces, crab potholders and swimsuits. “Clearance on all fishing supplies,” says a sign in the window. Chighizola and her husband filed a claim several weeks ago for lost revenue, but have not received any response. “They keep saying, ‘Not yet. It takes time for the paperwork,’ ” Chighizola said. “But I have to pay these bills. All this merchandise, it was all ordered back in December, and I’m having a hard time paying for it.” About the only business that’s doing well is short-term rentals to contractors flooding into town to clean up the beach and the bay. But selling real estate? Forget it, agents say. “My phone quit ringing a month ago,” said Grand Isle real estate agent Karl Thayer, who has received a small initial payment from BP and is still waiting for the next. “I’ve had one closing since the blowout, and that was a vacant property. Everything else is dead in the water.” …