Professor Robert Rabin is quoted on how insufficient documentation of Gulf oil spill claims has slowed payments from BP:

New data published by BP shows that payments have been made on only 28 percent of claims for damages from the Gulf oil spill, while the company has determined that more than half lack enough information to be approved. The data, released last Friday afternoon, presents a clearer but more discouraging picture of how claimants are faring than the statistics previously provided by the company.

Out of 114,000 total claims submitted to BP, the company has determined that 61,000 either require more documentation for a first payment to be made or have inadequate contact information for the claimant. BP said in a press release that it is sending letters to these claimants to help them move the process forward.

...

Robert Rabin, a law professor at Stanford University, told us that he is not surprised by the high proportion of claims that have been found to be lacking needed information. “One can surmise that many of these claims come from desperate individuals, who are seeking recompense for the first time and proceeding without a lawyer and without clear guidelines," Rabin wrote in an e-mail.

He added that such claims also affected the timeliness of payments by putting stress on BP's compensation system and raising suspicions about the quality of claims coming in.