"The Phony Settlement" - My response to NYT op-ed columnist Joe Nocera

Editors Note: In Friday's New York Times, business columnist Joe Nocera argues that the BP settlement is a lawyers' scheme to "gin up" new clients and squeeze more money out of BP.  He writes that "the vast majority of legitimate claims have already been paid by Feinberg" and that the new claims process established by the settlement will result in mostly "bogus" claims.  Nocera specifically ridicules the BP settlement for addressing the health claims of people made sick from exposure to BP's oil and dispersants, writing, "Thanks to the settlement, anybody in the gulf with a runny nose can now seek compensation from the new facility."

Here's Cherri Foytlin's response, which she emailed to Nocera:

Dear Mr. Nocera;
 
I'm not going to tell you about the sick people along the Gulf Coast. I'm not going to send you links to videos of sick clean-up workers and residents describing their ordeal or pictures of gaping chemical burns caused by oil and dispersant. I'm not going to send you the pictures of sick children in south Louisiana or let you hear audio of their asthma attacks and gasps for air.  I'm not going to argue with you over whether Ken Feinberg ran a good or bad claims process, whether the settlement is good or bad for BP or for the people of the Gulf and I'm not going to waste your time or mine wondering which lawyers are in it for justice and which are in it for the money.
 
What I am going to do is to invite you to visit the Gulf Coast to meet with sick people. Real people. People who worked clean-up because they were doing what Gulf coast people have always done - pitching in to clean up after the latest disaster.  People who signed up for the Vessels of Opportunity Program because when BP's oil closed the Gulf closed for fishing it was the only way to keep food on their family's table, their houses out of foreclosure and their boats from being repossessed.  I am inviting you to talk first hand, face-to-face with residents who were sprayed with Corexit while on their boats, on their docks, in their backyards and in their driveways.  I am inviting you to get to know the people of the Gulf Coast and to understand, really understand, how hard it is for hard-working people who have always been able to physically and financially provide for their families, to admit they are sick, to ask for help.  I am inviting you to meet the people who BP is hoping you never meet - those who can help you tell the truth about what has and is really happening along the Gulf Coast.  I would be honored if you accept my invitation.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Cherri Foytlin

Feel free to contact Mr. Nocera with your own commment at https://myaccount.nytimes.com/membercenter/emailus.html or call the New York Times news desk at 1-888-NYT-NEWS (1-888-698-6397).