Court approves $7.8bn BP spill settlement BP has received preliminary approval from a court in New Orleans for its estimated $7.8bn settlement with private sector plaintiffs over damages arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Judge Carl Barbier, who has been hearing the civil case over the world's largest ever offshore oil spill, ruled that the settlement agreed in principle by BP and the plaintiffs" lawyers in March was "sufficiently fair, reasonable, adequate, and consistent with governing law to warrant ... preliminary approval." He set a date of November 8 for a "fairness hearing" to give final approval to the deal. However, the judge did not rule on BP's argument that the trial of the remaining actions in the case should be delayed until after that final approval had been decided. BP is still facing claims from US federal, state and local governments for damages and penalties that could run into the tens of billions of dollars. Other companies involved in the disaster, including Transocean, which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, and Halliburton, which worked for BP supplying cement intended to seal the well, still face claims from both government and private sector plaintiffs. The federal government and the state of Alabama, which is leading the case for the coastal states affected by the spill, have argued against BP's call for a delay. They have said in court filings that the trial should start by the summer, because waiting could delay the payment of damages that would be used to restore the vulnerable coastline of the gulf. Luther Strange, Alabama's attorney-general, proposed a date of July 16, warning that BP's arguments could delay a trial for years. Last week the US government filed its first criminal charges in connection with the disaster, accusing a former BP engineer of obstructing justice by allegedly deleting from his phone text messages about the volume of oil flowing from the well during the spill. Eric Holder, the US attorney-general, said on Wednesday that more charges were likely. "We expect there will be others," he told reporters in Washington, without giving any indication as to when charges might be brought. Mr Holder first revealed in June 2010 that the US Department of Justice had begun a criminal investigation into possible charges arising from the spill. Hundreds of thousands of claimants including coastal residents, fishermen, business owners and workers on the clean-up could benefit from the settlement with BP. No formal limit has been set on the total value of the deal, but BP has estimated the cost at $7.8bn, an amount that it expects to meet within the $37.2bn it has set aside for spill costs. People such as fishermen who have lost income will be able to claim the value of their losses plus a "risk transfer premium," intended to reflect possible future effects and other costs, which could range up to 8.75 times the value of the loss. There is also a separate settlement for people who may have suffered medical effects from exposure to the spilled oil or the dispersant chemicals used to clear it.