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By Dan Levine
May 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court will not revisit adecision to reject BP Plc's bid to block businesses fromrecovering money over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even ifthose businesses could not trace their economic losses to thedisaster.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March voted 2-1 toauthorize payments on so-called business economic loss claims,and said an injunction preventing payments should be lifted. BPasked the entire 5th Circuit to rehear the case.
However, the 5th Circuit voted 8-5 to let the March rulingstand, according to a court filing made public on Monday.
In a statement, BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said the companyis disappointed in the decision, and is considering its options.Plaintiff attorneys Steve Herman and Jim Roy said in a statementthey are "pleased that the court of appeals agreed that BP musthonor its contract."
The decision is a setback for BP's effort to limit paymentsover the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizondrilling rig and rupture of BP's Macondo oil well.
The disaster killed 11 people and triggered the largest U.S.offshore oil spill.
A lower court judge had ruled that BP would have to livewith its earlier interpretation of a multibillion dollarsettlement agreement over the spill, in which certain businessesclaiming losses were presumed to have suffered harm.
BP argued that this would allow businesses to recover forfictitious losses, but the 5th Circuit rejected its appeal.
The case is In re: Deepwater Horizon, 5th U.S. Circuit Courtof Appeals, Nos. 13-30315 and 13-30329. (Reporting by Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by MatthewLewis and Lisa Shumaker)
