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[FLYNDYNA]

High court reduces Exxon oil spill damages

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has reduced a $2.5 billion punitive damages award against energy giant Exxon for its role in an infamous 1989 maritime oil spill.

The high court concluded, 8-0, that punitive damages should roughly match actual damages from the environmental disaster, which were roughly $507 million. Justice Samuel Alito took no part in the case because he owns Exxon stock.

The court ruled that victims of the worst oil spill in U.S. history may collect punitive damages from Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM, Fortune 500)., but not as much as a federal appeals court determined.

Exxon asked the high court to reject the punitive damages judgment, saying it already has spent $3.4 billion in response to the accident that fouled 1,200 miles of Alaska coastline.

A jury decided Exxon should pay $5 billion in punitive damages. A federal appeals court cut that verdict in half.

Exxon has fought vigorously to reduce or erase the punitive damages verdict by a jury in Alaska in 1994 for the Exxon Valdez accident on March 24, 1989 that spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history. The environmental disaster led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals.

Nearly 33,000 Alaskans are in line to share in the award, about $15,000 a person. They would have collected $75,000 each under the $2.5 billion judgment.

$15,000.00 per person when they lost their livelihoods...is that what a fisherman's life is worth? To me, Exxon continues to be a plague on the economy and show that they are only concerned about the "bottom line". I have boycotted them since the incident occurred back in 1989. My stance was launched not because of the spill, but because their spokesperson came on the air and said "You can boycot us, and it won't hurt us one iota."

 I will continue to boycot them, and firmly believe that the 2,200 stations they are selling is to cash in on declining real estate. I believe their plan is to sell now, wait till the market completely bottoms out, repurchase as many properties as possible and reform the company under a different monniker-perhaps ESSO? Who else can get away with saying "aww, c'mon Judge, we shouldn't have to pay all those punitive damages...we're struggling with our record making quarters"...o.k., I feel better now...

[grc]

When it comes to punitive damage awards, I'm of two minds.  One mind thinks that damage awards in general have lost touch with reality and should be reined in.  The other says, that's OK when the guilty party has shown true remorse and changed their ways, but how about when the guilty party had to be forced to respond to the incident in question, and then dragged their feet for decades rather than just agree to fairly compensate those who lost their livelihood?  

A separate issue here is the ridiculous amount of time that they have been allowed to drag this out through the courts.  There needs to be major reform in the entire tort system, but most especially in the appeals process so that wealthy and powerful corporations can't get away with bankrupting plaintiffs through delay and manipulation of the system.  As someone once said, justice delayed is justice denied.  IMHO, in this particular case justice wasn't just denied, it was mugged.

Jerry

[Talon]

Best court money can buy!!!!

[DavidB]

I have always wondered how Alaskans get royalty money on oil when the Miners in WV get nothing on coal ?

[Twolanerider]

I have always wondered how Alaskans get royalty money on oil when the Miners in WV get nothing on coal ?

There really is something to the fact that Juneau has been predominantly GOP run for quite a long time while Charleston has been a retirement home for Democrats who like mountain views for generations.

[Georgehjr]

Bird gets the coal money.......... helps to pay for his white sheets

Remember , PEPOLE own Exxon STOCK, the idiots that run the company should be put in jail, and the attorney's will get most of the money , SUE everyone , remember the spilled McDonald's coffee case,  it took how long and how many courts to finally put it to rest,

[icybay]

EXXON'S SHARE

The biggest single recipient of funds from the punitive award will be Exxon itself. Exxon stands to put about $110 million from the award in its own pocket thanks to a side deal cut in 1991 with seven Seattle fish processors. Those processors settled with Exxon for $70 million at the time but got to remain in the punitive lawsuit and pass any award they received back to the company. The deal was called "an astonishing ruse" by the federal judge in the case, but it was upheld on appeal

[FLYNDYNA]

It just gets better and better...the more money you have, the more crime you can get away with. Legal criminal action...oxymoron...

[gunrunner]

All this oil company hate gets to me. should the corp be bankrupted for a drunk captain? the libs have been demonizing the oil companies for years getting us ready for government takeover of the oil companies. they complain about the record profits, the oil co's make about 8 to 10 cent per gal. of gas if you take all their profits it would not amount to chit to the price of gas. the govt. makes many times the amount off the same gal. in taxes. but they deserve it right. I buy about 25000 gals of fuel a year and all this bullchit about taking their profits and cutting their tax subsidies will just raise the price. get real drill everywhere and drill now.

[icybay]

Gunrunner:  I would like to see what your attitude was if the Exxon Valdez ran onto Tampa Bay and ruined it for the next twenty years or more.

It has nothing to do with bashing the "oil companies" but it has everything to do with being responsible for restoring what you damage. If one of my employees ran over your Harley with my truck I am sure you would be the first one running to make a claim, and rightfully so.

By the way, it wasn't a drunk captain that ran the Exxon Valdez onto Bligh Reef, it was a third mate, Gregory Cousins, who was at the helm. Hazelwood got the blame (and he deserved it)  because he was the Captain.

And by the way the next week when I go to the fuel dock I will be taking on about 10 times what you use in a year, so I'm not overly impressed by your annual purchases.

[gunrunner]

Icybay, I was not trying to impress anyone just showing I have real interest in fuel price. You know they cleaned up the sound it cost millions they settled with affected people of alaska more millions and now pay punitive damages more millions , isn't it ever enough? As far as tampa bay while it would be a disaster it would not change my attitude as you put it. And where did that crack about running me over with company truck come from? who has an attitude?

[Free]

When it comes to punitive damage awards, I'm of two minds.  One mind thinks that damage awards in general have lost touch with reality and should be reined in.  The other says, that's OK when the guilty party has shown true remorse and changed their ways, but how about when the guilty party had to be forced to respond to the incident in question, and then dragged their feet for decades rather than just agree to fairly compensate those who lost their livelihood?  

A separate issue here is the ridiculous amount of time that they have been allowed to drag this out through the courts.  There needs to be major reform in the entire tort system, but most especially in the appeals process so that wealthy and powerful corporations can't get away with bankrupting plaintiffs through delay and manipulation of the system.  As someone once said, justice delayed is justice denied.  IMHO, in this particular case justice wasn't just denied, it was mugged.

Jerry

Well, the law is written by lawyers who get paid by the hour so its really no surprise that court cases go on forever.  In my view, two things would make a drastic difference - 1) there is no sense of proportionality - we have the broadest and most wide reaching discovery process where each party can ask for anything and everything regardless if its deemed to be relevant and 2) if you lose, you should pay the other sides legal bills -- the UK has both these concepts and lawsuits are fewer and shorter.

Free

[icybay]

Maybe you don't have a problem with your beaches being destroyed but I doubt if  many of your neighbors share your opinion. I lived there before, during and after the spill.

Exxon did not "clean up" the Sound. Where did you get that information?  They put on a dog and pony show, nothing more, mainly for public relations. Their insurance paid for most of it, with tens of millions going direct to VECO, owned by oil company bagman Bill Allen, (a confessed criminal convicted of bribing a number Alaskan elected officials, several of whom are already in Federal Prison).

The entire Prince William Sound was closed off to the public for 6 months and the airspace was under military control, you had to get a mission number from the Military to get within 50 miles of the Exxon Valdez. It was still leaking oil a month later anchored at Naked Island. The Feds helped them cover up how much oil they leaked out, it was a lot more than they said.

They never settled with a large number of the fishermen, that was the reason for the lawsuit. It ruined the price of our salmon for years. After twenty years we still have no herring fishery, and all the crab in the Sound are gone.

All we wanted was to be compensated for what we lost, and Exxon never even made an honest attempt. They gave Lee Raymond more for his retirement package than they paid the fishermen.   They got away almost scott free, period.

So you would have just shrugged it all off  so as not to pick on a poor oil company like Exxon? Give me a break.

 

[gunrunner]

Icybay I stand by my posts and will not try to correct your misstatements of them. I want drilling off the coast of Fl., the silly greens won't even let them find out how much oil is there because it will disturbe the marine life. If the rest of the gulf is any indication Fl should have huge oil and gas reserves. If we don't start drilling our own oil soon our economy and the world economy will suffer greatly. So how much should they pay for the mistake of a drunk captain, it was an accident, you don't get punitive damages for an accident ,did you expect a big payday or what? you get real, bankrupting exxon won't bring your crabs back.

[grc]

gunrunner,

First, I don't believe the original award created a serious threat of bankruptcy for Exxon.  Two billion might seem like big bucks to us regular folk, but it's chump change to Exxon.  Second, the use of the word "accident" is supposed to absolve negligence?  The word accident implies unavoidable, and this "incident" was totally avoidable.  I guess when some drunk runs a tractor-trailer into the back of a line of cars at a toll booth, that is an "accident" and therefore the dead and injured should just suck it up and move on?  And even if it can be proved that the management of the trucking company knew this driver was a drunk and allowed him to continue driving, no one should expect that company to be held liable?  All I can say is that I sincerely hope you never find out how being a victim in one of these situations really feels.  If you are, I'll bet your views on liability will change just a smidgen.

With modern technology the odds are very good that we could drill not only off shore but also in many other sensitive areas with little or no permanent harm.  The problem as I see it isn't the availability of technology, it's the seemingly inevitable shortcutting of the system that the greedy bastards running these companies just can't seem to avoid.  After all, what does it matter to them when our current system shields them from direct personal responsibility.  Worst case, the corporation has to pay a fine and take a slap on the wrist, and the big dogs get to keep their huge compensation packages.  Perhaps if we could force those big dogs to pay personally, both monetarily and with a little quality time in the Federal lockup, we might start to see a little corporate integrity for a change.  Give the people enough evidence that these corporations will follow the rules, and I believe you will see much less opposition to drilling in sensitive areas.  Until then, people are naturally and understandably reluctant to trust those same folks who have abused the environment and the people for the past hundred years.

Jerry