A federal magistrate has scheduled a hearing for BP to justify why it has balked at paying more than $130 million in fees to the court-supervised administrator of its multi-billion dollar settlement with Gulf Coast businesses and residents after the company's 2010 Gulf oil spill.
In a letter dated Monday, BP claims official Maria Travis claimed the settlement program administered by Lafayette-based attorney Patrick Juneau has been plagued by poor productivity and excessive costs.
U.S. Magistrate Sally Shushan scheduled Wednesday's hearing in New Orleans on whether BP should be ordered to fund Juneau's proposed third-quarter budget.
Travis said the company cannot determine if Juneau's budget request is reasonable without more documentation.