The Huffington Post has a good story today on just how difficult it will be to determine who has a legitimate claim against BP. The story discusses one woman who works with local hospitals to recruit new doctors and places about 12 doctors a year. One has backed out since the oil spill. Though it's clear her living isn't directly tied to the water, it's also true that the oil spill is going to affect the entire region in ways we can't quite imagine.
But there's also, of course, those businesses that people get uptight about because of the kinds of businesses they are.
There has been so much confusion over who is eligible that Feinberg has had to respond to rumors about a New Orleans strip club putting in for a payout.
"I'm dubious about that claim. I'm very dubious about that claim," [Kenneth] Feinberg told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "But I don't want to prejudge any individual claim."
A woman who answered the phone at the club denied that it was a strip club, but so what if it was? It's not as though oil rig workers don't spend their money throughout the local economies, and the lack of it doesn't affect the people who work there. If a hotel can have a legitimate claim, why not a club? This is the media finding -- literally, a sexy story within all the tragedy -- and I hope that no one with a legitimate claim suffers.
-- Monica Potts
