Judge Orders Exxon Mobil to Pay Nearly $7 Billion in Spill Damages

TBO.COM ^

[Sub-Driver]

Judge Orders Exxon Mobil to Pay Nearly $7 Billion in Spill Damages By Rachel D'oro Associated Press Writer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay about $6.75 billion to thousands of Alaskans affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The ruling is the latest of several damage awards in the case over the past decade - the result of successful appeals in federal court by Exxon. The company plans to appeal again.

Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Russel Holland ordered the Irving, Texas-based company to pay $4.5 billion in punitive damages and about $2.25 billion in interest.

The money is to go to 32,000 fishermen, Alaska Natives, landowners, small businesses and cities affected by the 11 million-gallon spill in Prince William Sound.

"We have now closed the trial court doors for the last time in this litigation after 15 years," said David Oesting, lead attorney for those who sued. "We're definitely on track to the end of the entire dispute."

The judge had been ordered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the damages awarded in an earlier ruling in light of a Supreme Court decision last year concerning punitive damages.

"This ruling flies in the face of the guidelines set by the appeals court," company spokesman Tom Cirigliano said.

He said the 9th Circuit has twice vacated Holland's decisions in the case.

Holland reduced the Exxon punitive damages award to $4 billion a year ago after a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit sent the original $5 billion verdict back, saying it was excessive.

For his latest ruling, the judge was to consider a Supreme Court decision last year involving a Utah traffic accident. The justices ruled that a jury's award of $145 million to punish an insurance company was grossly excessive when actual damages were $1 million.

The Supreme Court held that the ratio of punitive to actual damages should not exceed 9-to-1.

Attorneys for both sides came up with different estimates for actual damages from the Exxon spill, and both argued that the Supreme Court decision supported their damage claims.

The spill occurred March 23, 1989, less than three hours after the Exxon Valdez left the Alyeska Pipeline terminal. The ship grounded, rupturing eight of its 11 cargo tanks and spewing some 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the sound.

An estimated 250,000 seabirds and thousands of marine mammals died as a result of the spill, which contaminated more than 1,200 miles of shoreline.

Lingering effects of the spill include declines in various marine populations, as well as stunted growth in such species as pink salmon.

AP-ES-01-28-04 1843EST

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAGH4P10QD.html

[Sub-Driver]

Why not, 10, 20, 50, 100.........dumb

[freekitty]

I doubt this money will go to who they say it will.

[quietolong]

Ahh.. That's why gas prices are going up!

[CPOSharky]

Ahh.. That's why gas prices are going up!

Exactly. All the fines forced on companies are paid by the consumer, if the company is not driven out of business.

I'm still waiting for a bunch of the people responsible to be thrown in jail or have their personal funds attached.

And all the liberals think the big bad companies are being taught a lesson not even realizing the money is coming out of their pockets. And everyone else's pockets.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[the invisib1e hand]

shakedown alert.

[maestro]

Your# 4........correct!

'Judge' Orders Exxon Mobil to Pay Nearly $7 Billion in Spill Damages

British colonial-American-club gas prices going up.....7%...plus!

(evening news)

WW-III must be coming soon!

:-(

[searchandrecovery]

Big Lawsuits = government sanctioned transfer of wealth programs from big corporations to trial lawyers.

[The Wizard]

GWB was right about judges......they must be controlled.

[ASOC]

I may be mistaken - but the original $5Bn 'fine' was generated by a jury (of Alaskans) - was it a lot? Yup. Too much? Maybe.
EXXon spent about 1.5 to 2 $Bn in the clean up and paid actual (demonstrated) damages. The $5Bn is supposed to 'punish'.....

Bottom line, if this happen again, the oil companies may decide that it is cheaper to not pay any damages - and folks who lost something in all of this will go wanting for years - if they ever see a dime. The buzzards will get about 1/4 of any settlement.


We take family and friends to the Sound all of the time, you must actually dig to find oil pollution....and some of that occurrs naturally - from oil seeps in the Sound.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[Humidston]

As a result of this spill, EVERY shipper, EVERY aspect of oil production, movement, storage, etc is covered by extremely expensive spill insurance.

The majors use a company they set up and the minor players use other companies. Oil producers and ship owners now pay BILLIONS of dollars yearly to have the honor of providing us our energy. A brand new industry (spill insurance) was born of the Valdez spill, and we're paying through the nose for it every time we fill up our tanks.

This is just another case of trial lawyers bleeding large corporations - and all because one drunk barge operator caused a spill.

[quietolong]

CPOsharky...
I was standing in the chow hall line at the time and watched the filming of the opening of your show. It was one of our sister companies used in the filming. was always a laugh watching all those “ Long haired ” recruits on TV ;-)


But don’t think that those Lib, RAT politicians don’t have there thumb in the pie also.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[upcountryhorseman]

It was an accident for goodness sake! Not a criminal act
by the company.

[Eva]

EXXON deserved to pay the fines because of their cavalier attitude toward environmental safety prior to the spill.

My husband was the environmental advisor for ARCO at the time of the Valdez spill. He ran a spill drill six months before the actual spill, which closely simulated the situation of the Valdez spill. He was trying to convince the other oil carriers that they were sorely under prepared for a spill. Exxon and BP called him an idiot and said that they had already been forced to spend too much money in the North Sea, and didn't want to do that in Alaska unless the government forced them to.

Then they threatened to ruin his career and destroy him in open court if he testified against them. He never did.

[Humidston]

I've been out of town since my post on this thread. I'm catching up and caught your reply.

My husband says he knew some of the guys in the environmental dept at ARCO, so there's a good chance they know each other! Small world!

[Eva]

My husband was the environmental guy for ARCO Marine, the first and only guy at that time. That's why Exxon and BP thought that they could push him around, ARCO didn't have an environmental person before him, and he moved into the position from operations.

[sonofatpatcher2]

$7 Billion divided by 32,000 = $218,750 per person!

Gad!!! Hey Exxon, could you spill some oil anout 56 miles south of Dallas? I could use the spare change.

[sonofatpatcher2]

Make that "about" 56 miles south of Dallas. I don't want anyone else to get my settlement!