The following is an Appeal Panel Decision issued pursuant to Section 6 of the BP Deepwater Horizon Economic & Property Damages Settlement Agreement and the Rules Governing the BP Appeals Process. Links may have been added to assist the reader. The original decision may be found here, as well as a glossary of BP Settlement terms
Claimant appeals the Program’s choice of RTP. This appeal presents the often-seen issue of which address associated with a Claimant controls the Claimant’s Zone assignment, which in turn determines the RPT. Here, Claimant operates arcade machines at a commercial location in Zone A. Claimant uses a Zone D residential address on its tax returns and in all legal documents.
Policy XXX states the following: If a BEL Claimant is physically located in one Zone, but the claimant’s business activity, sales or service activity, or revenue source is located in a different Zone, the Claims Administrator will assign the claimant the Economic Loss Zone where the claimant is physically located.
BP argues that Claimant is physically located in Zone D, but that Claimant’s business activities and source of revenue are located in Zone A. Hence, BP argues that the Program was correct to assign the RPT for Zone D.
Claimant, on the other hand, argues that it is not “located” in Zone D; that the Zone D address is a residential address only used for reporting/mailing purposes; and that the only physical location Claimant maintains is in Zone A, the location of its arcade machines, which is the sole source of Claimant’s revenue. This Panel agrees with Claimant. As such, Claimant should be designated as Zone A.
Claimant’s NAICS code qualifies it as Tourism. That designation, along with its Zone A location, entitles Claimant to a RTP of 2.5. Claimant’s Final Proposal is adopted.
