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Attorney General Bill McCollum Press Release

May 21, 2010
Media Contact: Jenn Meale (850) 245-0150
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Attorney General Warns Floridians Against Paying Fees for Oil Spill Claims Services

~ Claims service is entirely free of cost ~


TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today warned Floridians that anyone requesting a fee to process a claim for loss or damage associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is not an authorized BP/ESIS adjuster. ESIS is BP’s authorized, third-party claims administrator. The BP claims process is free of any cost to any individual or company filing claims.

“Floridians need to be on the lookout for people posing as authorized adjusters and requesting fees for free claims services,” said Attorney General McCollum.

As part of the process, claimants are assigned a personal claims number upon making an initial claim through the BP hotline at 1-800-440-0858. An authorized ESIS adjuster will then contact the claimant to further verify and process the claim for payment. The ESIS adjuster will repeat the claimant’s personal claim number and will not request or require a fee. If a caller cannot repeat the correct personal claim number or requests a fee, consumers should immediately contact the Attorney General’s Fraud Hotline at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM (1-866-966-7226) or file a complaint online at http://www.myfloridalegal.com.

Attorney General McCollum’s office has been working with BP to streamline its claims process. As a result of the Attorney General’s effort, Floridians calling to file claims will be specifically instructed not to pay any fees to any parties calling about claims services. The Attorney General also recently launched a website to provide Floridians with information about the state’s response to the Deepwater Horizon incident and the oil spill approaching Florida’s coastline. The website, http://myfloridalegal.com/deepwaterhorizon, provides helpful guidance for filing claims as well as information that citizens can use to protect themselves from fraud.