Judge delays start of civil trial over BP oil spill until January 2013

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge has pushed back the start of a civil trial for claims against BP PLC and other companies involved in the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier on Thursday set a date of Jan. 14, 2013. The trial originally was scheduled to start Feb. 27, 2012.

The Justice Department and the state of Alabama had wanted the trial to start this summer, but BP asked for a January 2013 date.

The later date would give the judge more time to grant final approval to a settlement already reached with a committee of plaintiffs' attorneys.

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