I have a Palm Harbor client whose retail business was shattered after the BP Oil spill of April, 2010. Her business is dependent upon “disposable dollars”, that is, that money that is spent for fun by her clients.
Here on the Gulf Coast many of her reliable Palm Harbor area clients stopped using her services in the summer and fall months of 2010 when she is usually her busiest. Why? She asked them. Their answer was almost universal: “Our business has suffered financially since the BP Oil spill. Our client base isn’t spending money”, or “My company isn’t offering overtime since we’re so slow and I cannot afford your services. The tourists haven’t come due to the oil spill.”
It almost doesn’t matter what business my client was in, the BP Oil spill stopped a lot of businesses dead in their tracks. Retail, travel services, restaurants, recreational expenditures, even attorney and dental services suffered because the common denominator is discretionary spending. If it wasn’t an expense necessary to keep food on the table and a roof overhead, many Palm Harbor, Dunedin and other Gulf Coast residents just stopped spending while the tourist industry avoided the Gulf Coast thinking we were knee deep in oily residue on our beaches.
And this extended well into 2011 and for some, 2012.
While many may have chalked off business losses in 2010, 2011 and 2012 to the continuation of a bad economy, this is wrong. If your business weathered the storm during the worst of 2008, and 2009, your business should have been recovering during the last three years.
As you may have seen on television, British Petroleum has settled a class action lawsuit for billions of dollars and all residents and businesses in Gulf Coast counties (Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee) are eligible to receive compensation.
If your company or business sustained inexplicable financial losses in 2010, 2011 or 2012, some attorneys and law firms are prepared to work with knowledgeable accountants to connect your losses with the BP Oil spill. You may have a legitimate claim to make. Don’t waste time. The time to make a claim is drawing down. Please speak with a local area attorney or law firm as soon as possible to ensure that your financial claim can be addressed.
We can help!