Miss. AG sues administrator of BP oil spill fund

JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi's attorney general said Tuesday his office is suing the administrator of BP's $20 billion oil spill fund to get access to claims filed by coastal residents.

Jim Hood said Tuesday that he has tried to negotiate with the fund's administrator, Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg. He says he's seeking to make the process more transparent so people will know if Feinberg is looking out for the best interests of oil spill victims or BP.

Hood filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Hinds County Chancery Court.

Feinberg said Tuesday in a phone interview with The Associated Press that, "Our lawyers will respond in the ordinary course." He had no other immediate comment.

Hood has previously said he believes Feinberg's operation is intentionally delaying and denying legitimate claims, an allegation Feinberg has denied. Others have also criticized the size and pace of payments and a perceived lack of transparency.

Feinberg has said Hood could undermine the claims process by urging a court to intervene and by making allegations that border on defamation.

Hood said he believes if Feinberg would "open the books for Mississippi claims, we will find they have not treated our claims fairly."

"If you don't have anything to hide, show your hand," Hood said.

Hood said he resorted to the lawsuit because his office's attempts to get access to the documents on Mississippi claims failed. He did say BP and Feinberg have responded with some documents but not everything requested.

"He has provided very little transparency in this process," Hood said at a news conference in his Jackson office. "All we want them to give us how they arrived at these (claim) figures. We have worked with him every way in the world. All they have done is delay."

"All he has done is come down to our coast and tell us all these good things he was going to do and he hasn't done them," Hood said. "It is going to take a judge, I think, to require him to make disclosure."

Hood said he expects BP to try to move the lawsuit to federal court in New Orleans, where other BP cases are being handled.

However, in the lawsuit, Hood said his investigation into the claims process falls under the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act and of purview of the state courts.

"The attorney general has not made any determination as to the merits of a future enforcement action. Instead, the attorney general is performing his duty to investigate suspected violations of Mississippi law," the lawsuit says.

__

Associated Press Writer Holbrook Mohr contributed to this report.