--- description: BP is faced with billions of dollars in payments for claims the company says are 'fictitious' title: U.S. Court Upholds Ruling in BP Oil spill Case image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6ff0918f0ff1e63/698690271eebf71819370f8b/bplogo_rtx14v74_reuters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # U.S. Court Upholds Ruling in BP Oil spill Case by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2014 9:23 AM CUT  BP logo is seen at a fuel station of British oil company BP in St. Petersburg, October 18, 2012. BP logo is seen at a fuel station of British oil company BP in St. Petersburg, October 18, 2012.Alexander Demianchuk—Reuters by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2014 9:23 AM CUT A U.S. appeals court has [rejected](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-05-19/bp-faces-billions-in-spill-payments-after-court-upholds-deal "undefined") BP’s bid to revisit a decision made by the court in March on payments to companies affected economically by the 2010 oil spill. BP had asked the 5th circuit to hear the case again, claiming that it was being forced to pay money to businesses that could not demonstrate that their losses were related to the spill, Reuters [reports](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/us-usa-bp-spill-idUSBREA4J00920140520 "undefined"). The court rejected BP’s bid 8-5\. The company is now left with two options, to either pay billions in claims or to appeal the case at the U.S. Supreme Court. The company is considering the options, spokesman Geoff Morell said in a statement. \[[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/us-usa-bp-spill-idUSBREA4J00920140520 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/105759/bp-claims-court-appeals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/105759/bp-claims-court-appeals/"},"headline":"U.S. Court Upholds Ruling in BP Oil spill Case","datePublished":"2014-05-20T09:23:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:56:09.104Z","description":"BP is faced with billions of dollars in payments for claims the company says are 'fictitious' after an appeals court rejected its bid to revisit the case","url":"https://time.com/105759/bp-claims-court-appeals/","keywords":["Companies","U.S.","court","BP"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6ff0918f0ff1e63/698690271eebf71819370f8b/bplogo_rtx14v74_reuters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6ff0918f0ff1e63/698690271eebf71819370f8b/bplogo_rtx14v74_reuters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BP logo is seen at a fuel station of British oil company BP in St. Petersburg","caption":"BP logo is seen at a fuel station of British oil company BP in St. Petersburg","creditText":"Alexander Demianchuk—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/105759/bp-claims-court-appeals/","name":"U.S. Court Upholds Ruling in BP Oil spill Case"}}]}] ```