BP wants future spill claims limited (Reuters)

HOUSTON (Reuters) – BP Plc wants to limit future claims related to its Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster as the region's economy recovers, the oil company said in a document made public on Friday.

The Gulf economy is strong and "there is no basis to assume that claimants, with very limited exceptions, will incur a future loss related to the oil spill," BP said in a paper filed with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF).

Oystermen, whose beds have been destroyed by crude, should be considered for future payments, the British oil company said.

Kenneth Feinberg is the administrator of the $20 billion GCCF fund established at the urging of President Barack Obama to compensate people and businesses for losses related to the BP oil disaster.

BP's deepwater Macondo well ruptured in April 2010, causing a fiery explosion that killed 11 rig workers and spewed more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf. The accident closed waters to fishing, disrupted tourism and caused the government to shut down deepwater exploration for months.

But now, Gulf residents are getting back to work and industries are on the rebound, BP said, citing lodging, fishing and other data.

"The GCCF welcomes any and all input from any interested sources including BP," Feinberg said in an email. "We take all of the submissions 'under advisement.'"

BP supports the payment of legitimate claims and future losses that are substantiated, but the company objects to the GCCF's "practice of assuming futures losses on certain claims," the company said in an email.

At the beginning of July, the GCCF had paid $4.5 billion in claims to 195,000 claimants. There are also about $430 million worth of offers that are under consideration by Gulf residents.

(Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston; editing by Carol Bishopric and Matthew Lewis)

New jobless claims fall last week (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, government data showed on Thursday, but distortions associated with the holiday weekend and a government shutdown in one state made it difficult to get a clear view of the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 418,000, the Labor Department said.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims dropping to 420,000 from a previously reported 428,000. The prior week's figure was revised up to 432,000.

The data has as no bearing on the government's closely watched employment for June, scheduled for release on Friday and expected to show that nonfarm payrolls increased 90,000 last month after rising only 54,000 in May.

While the improvement in claims at the start of the third quarter could be hopeful sign that conditions were now in place for the economy to regain the momentum lost in the first half, the report itself does not offer a clear read of the labor market.

A Labor Department official said given Monday's Independence Day holiday, California and Virginia had provided partial estimates. In addition, the department had to make estimates for four states and territories.

The data also included about 2,500 claims from state employees in Minnesota following the shutdown on Thursday of the state government.

It was the 13th straight week that claims have been above 400,000, a level that is usually associated with a stable labor market.

The four-week moving average of unemployment claims, a better measure of underlying trends, fell 3,000 to 424,750.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid dropped 43,000 to 3.68 million in the week ended June 25.

The number of people on emergency unemployment benefits declined 44,183 to 3.26 million in the week ended June 18, the latest week for which data is available. A total of 7.46 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during that period under all programs, down 61,327 from the prior week. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Amazon refuses to collect California sales tax, state claims it will send a bill (Yahoo! News)

The online sales giant goes head-to-head with the Sunshine State

One of the benefits of shopping with online megaretailers like Amazon is often being able to avoid pesky sales tax. The state of California is attempting to "correct" that issue, which it saw as a legal loophole, by introducing  legislation requiring online retailers to comply with the state's sales tax laws. The movement was signed into law yesterday, meaning that as of today, Amazon should be required to collect sales tax on all purchases made from within the state — but it refuses to do so.

If a company has no physical presence in the state of sale, it's often not required to collect tax when someone from that state purchases an item online. Past Supreme Court cases have upheld this notion. Because of this, Amazon recently cut ties with all physical distributors in California, effectively killing any claim that the online giant physically operates within state lines.

Regardless of that, state officials in California say they expect Amazon to comply with the new law, but Amazon's legal team doesn't see things in quite the same light. Amazon VP of Global Public Policy Paul Misener stated, "This legislation is counterproductive and will not cause our retail business to collect sales tax for the state." But California is sticking by its guns and claims that if sales tax is not collected at the point of purchase, the state will receive a rather sizable bill at the end of the year in order to balance the books.

(Source)

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