Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/122777
Sarasota News Leader April 19, 2013 Page 25 ANOTHER 'GOLDEN EGG' BECKONS to present estimated damage claims to BP and The City of Sarasota has held back from trying to get a piece of the potential cash bonanza from class-action lawsuits seeking damages as a result of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. allow us to join the class action." The city's beaches were untouched by the spilled oil, but Robertson reminded the commission, "We had seven months when people just didn't come here." The law firm will take one-third of any settlement if the city wins funds. "We wouldn't be taking this on contingency if we didn't believe there were recoverable damages," said Robertson. He noted Longboat Key is asking for $6 million and Clearwater, $20 million. But on Monday, the commissioners heard the figurative siren's song and submitted to the process. The "siren" was Bill Robertson with the Kirk-Pinkerton legal firm, who said the city had only until April 19 to get on the "graThe commissioners approved Robertson's vy train." pitch unanimously. They instructed staff to "There's a three-year statute of limitations," he get busy calculating any and all damages they said. "You have until next Friday or Saturday could think of. % Oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico reached the Pensacola beaches in 2010. Photo by Ebaybe via Wikimedia Commons