A U.S. appeals court said BP P.L.C., which in July reached an $18.7 billion settlement of federal, state and local claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, must face one of two proposed class action lawsuits claiming that the oil company defrauded shareholders over the disaster. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said investors who bought BP's American depositary shares in a 33-day period soon after the spill may pursue group claims that BP initially "lowballed" the oil flow rate, and that the share price tumbled as the crisis' magnitude became known.