WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday dashed the hopes of more than 32,000 fishermen and Alaska Natives who've been waiting for nearly 20 years to hear whether Exxon Mobil Corp. must pay billions in punitive damages for its role in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
In a victory for corporations seeking to limit big-dollar lawsuits, the court decided 5-3 to reduce the $2.5 billion punitive damages. The award was excessive, the justices wrote, and reduced it to $507.5 million. The original multibillion-dollar punitive damages had been awarded as punishment for the company's role in spilling 11 million gallons of oil into the pristine fishing waters of Alaska's Prince William Sound.
"The punitive damages award against Exxon was excessive as a matter of maritime common law," Justice David Souter wrote in the majority opinion. "In the circumstances of this case, the award should be limited to an amount equal to compensatory damages."
The 32,677 plaintiffs in the case have been waiting for their compensation since 1994, when a jury in Anchorage, Alaska, returned a $5 billion punitive-damages award against Exxon Mobil...
Full Story: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/25/9879/