Court won't stop BP oil spill claims payments

Despite requests from British oil company BP PLC, the company must continue settlement payouts from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s 2-to-1 judgment means the court will not stop payments while BP appeals a ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court that businesses do not have to prove they were directly harmed by the spill to collect money.

The Associated Press reports BP asked the Supreme Court to review Wednesday's ruling, saying that otherwise "countless awards totaling potentially hundreds of millions of dollars will be irretrievably scattered to claimants that suffered no injury traceable to BP's conduct."

BP says it already has paid out more than $12 billion in claims. A trial scheduled for January in New Orleans is part of the litigation that will determine how much the oil giant owes in federal Clean Water Act penalties, according to AP reports.

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