A Catch-22 for Oil Spill Victims

BP gives people looking for settlements a tough choice.

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:

Where BP oil money will flow. Recently uncovered BP documents offer some insight as to who will be entitled to a piece of the company's $20 billion oil spill compensation fund. According to The New York Times, the documents indicate that anyone who takes a lump-sum settlement from BP will be prohibited from suing either BP or other defendants, including Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron International. Kenneth R. Feinberg, who's overseeing the money's distribution, put similar guidelines in place when he was in charge of the September 11th compensation fund. The first settlement recipients will be people and businesses located "adjacent" to any body of water, but, the documents say, "Economic losses which are more remote, or occurred at a location more distant from the spill, are less likely to be fully compensated." According to the story, it will be Feinberg who decides "on a case-by-case basis" just how close to the water is close enough.

Did he really just say that? Yes, yes he did. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, LG Electronics VP Chang Ma fired this shot at Apple: "Our tablet will be better than the iPad." Said tablet is expected to be released later this year and focus on content creation. Surely, a certain man wearing a turtle neck is laughing to himself right about now.

Danger on the high seas. In honor of The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released data, stating on-the-job fatality is at an all time low, CNN Money has released a list of the country's top 10 most dangerous jobs. It turns out fishermen in cold climates are the most at-risk, reporting 200 deaths for every 100,000 workers. Also on the list are loggers, roofers, farmers and airplane pilots.

Need legal advice? You can get it for free. In a story for The Wall Street Journal Mike Michalowicz, author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur tells businesses where they can solve their legal problems at no cost. "Go to a local college or university and talk to the head of the legal department," he writes. "Volunteer your business to be a case study for a business law class." He says the class will take on the hefty task of preparing all your legal documents and may even provide free consultation, all under the watchful eye of the professor, typically a lawyer. Michalowicz adds, "You can use this short cut for more than just legal work. Offering yourself as a living laboratory to students of marketing, web design and graphics, and computer programming (among other disciplines) is a great way to get a lot for a (very) little."

Making money off your money. The average hundred dollar bill jumps between wallets and cash registers three times a week for 7.4 years and gets seen by 8,000 people. An artist named Art Marcovici sees that as a perfect opportunity for advertising (via Co.Design). His idea for "cashvertisements," would replace the stodgy national landmarks and dead presidents typically gracing the backs of bills. What about you? If it were in your price range, would you promote your business on cold hard currency? Let us know in the comments.

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Issie Lapowsky is a reporter at Inc. magazine. She has covered lifestyle and entertainment for the New York Daily News, and her work has been published in BlackBook magazine and The Brooklyn Rail. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.