Two pension funds (one public) said that they would ask an Alaska state court to freeze more than $140 million in retirement pay and other compensation for outgoing BP CEO John Browne, saying it is "excessive and undeserved". The shareholders said they want Mr. Browne's pension fund to be held in a court-supervised trust while they pursue claims against him and the board of directors for environmental and worker safety issues that have beset the oil company. They are also pushing for future executive compensation at BP to be tied to safety metrics in an attempt to curb the recent rise in public health and safety concerns, including fatal accidents at a Texas refinery and maintenance issues at an Alaskan oil pipeline.

The claims, according to estimates compiled by the plaintiff's law firm, seek to temporarily bar Mr. Browne from collecting approximately $40 million in pension benefits and $54.5 million in long-term performance pay while the plaintiffs pursue their claims. They also want the court to freeze about $30.7 million in stock options and want about $18.3 million in previously awarded cash bonuses to be returned and put into the trust. Finally, the group demanded company accounting records that they could use to calculate the exact total of his compensation. While BP refused to comment on the matter, we already know that the CEO announced that he would be stepping down on at the end of July, a full year-and-a-half earlier than expected.