NEW ORLEANS - Federal appellate judges have upheld an order barring two lawyers from handling damage claims over BP's 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill because they allegedly set up a system of payments to help speed claims through the process.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier properly issued sanctions against lawyers Jonathan Andry and Glen Lerner. Neither of the lawyers has been charged with a crime.

In February 2015 Barbier ruled that the lawyers be disqualified from representing clients with damage claims against the oil giant over its 2010 spill. Barbier charged that the lawyers had acted unethically.

Andry and Lerner appealed the ruling, arguing that Barbier improperly sanctioned them.