NEW YORK (AP) - BP's settlement deal with thousands of victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a major step toward putting the worst oil spill in U.S. history behind it. If approved by a federal court in New Orleans, Friday's deal would settle lawsuits filed by some 100,000 individuals and businesses affected by the spill. They include fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's April 20, 2010, disaster. The accident destroyed a drilling rig called the Deepwater Horizon, killed 11 workers, spilled an estimated 200 million gallons of oil and disrupted thousands of Gulf Coast lives. The momentous settlement announced late Friday will have no cap to compensate the plaintiffs, though BP PLC estimated it would have to pay out about $7.8 billion, making it one of the largest class-action settlements ever. The settlement would come out of a $20 billion trust the company had established to pay these types of claims. BP is also mired in lawsuits with some of its partners in the Macondo project in the Gulf. The main targets of litigation resulting from the explosion and spill were BP, Transocean, cement contractor Halliburton Co. and Cameron International, maker of the well's failed blowout preventer.