Experienced maritime lawyer Charles Herd of The Lanier Law Firm in Houston says he expects as many 85,000 individual lawsuits will be filed against BP by the middle of this month over damages caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mr. Herd says many people wrongly believe that a 2012 class-action settlement resolved all the Deepwater Horizon claims against BP, but those who did not participate in the settlement can file lawsuits by May 16 under a court-ordered deadline. Mr. Herd recently discussed the claims of the more than 200 clients he’s representing against BP in a story by The National Law Journalthat you can read here. He told the publication that the federal judge overseeing the claims against BP is working to make sure the local residents and small businesses who did not participate in the class-action settlement will get their day in court.

[The judge has] now turned his attention to what most people thought the case was going to be about from the beginning—all the individuals, mom and pop stores, who were economically and otherwise harmed by the spill itself, Mr. Herd told The National Law Journal.