Kenneth R. Feinberg spent part of his summer barnstorming towns near the Gulf of Mexico, urging people who felt they had suffered financial hardship because of the oil spill to apply for a share of the $20 billion BP fund he was overseeing. The point of the fund was to pay claims rather than litigate them in court.

“It’s my opinion you are crazy if you don’t participate,” Mr. Feinberg told a crowd at one stop in Louisiana.

And participate they did. Mr. Feinberg has seen applications that could bring a tear to the eye.

Others are likelier to raise eyebrows.

Take the businessman who explained that his part of the $20 billion fund should be ... $20 billion. His income last year? Fifty thousand dollars.