BP fighting for return of some oil spill claims

BP is asking a federal court Thursday to force some Gulf Coast businesses to return the money they received in a settlement from the 2010 oil spill the company took responsibility for.

The businesses received payouts from the 2012 settlement, but BP later won the right to further restrict when entities could get payments based on companies’ revenues and expenses and how much they suffered from the spill.

BP will go to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday to ask the judges to force some of those businesses to repay the settlement money they received before the October 2013 amendment to the terms, along with interest, The Associated Press reported.

In briefs before the New Orleans-based appeals court, BP said hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake in the case.

The three-judge panel is not expected to rule immediately on BP’s appeal.