US court slashes payout over Exxon Valdez disaster
27/6/08
The US Supreme Court has thrown out the record $US2.5billion in punitive damages Exxon Mobil Corp was ordered to pay for the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska. When the Exxon Valdez crashed into a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989, 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled. Picture: AFP By a 5-3 vote, the court ruled the punitive damages should be slashed to the total relevant compensatory damages of $US507.5million ($530million). The judges overturned a ruling by a US Court of Appeals that had awarded the record punitive damages to about 32,000 commercial fishermen, Alaska natives, property owners and others harmed by the US’s worst tanker spill. In the majority opinion, judge David Souter concluded the $US2.5billion in punitive damages was excessive under federal maritime law, and should be cut to the amount of actual harm. Recent soaring oil prices have propelled Exxon Mobil to record profits. The company posted earnings of $US40.6billion last year.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23928337-2703,00.html
Exxon Valdez oil spill payout ‘a knife in the gut’; Christopher Maag; 27/6/08; http://www.theage.com.au/environment/exxon-valdez-oil-spill-payout-a-knife-in-the-gut-20080626-2xgb.html
Tags: Arctic, Environment, Trade, USA