BPs Legal Blowout (Forbes)

The Spill

BP's Legal Blowout

Daniel Fisher and Asher Hawkins, 07.14.10, 03:10 PM EDT

When all the lawsuits are in, the oil company is facing a settlement bill that will rank among the highest of all time.

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BP made the best of a horrific situation by agreeing to hand over $20 billion to settle claims from the Deepwater Horizon blowout. And make no mistake, $20 billion is a lot of money.ExxonMobil only spent about $6 billion cleaning up after its 1999 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

The BP ( BP - news - people ) settlement also ranks high against the biggest court verdicts in U.S. history. Only the tobacco industry has been tagged with higher awards, including a $145 billion verdict in Florida over smoking-related health problems, which was overturned on appeal.

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