Court orders $507.5-mil damages in Exxon spill

Twenty years have passed since the catastrophic oil spill in Alaska that led to haunting images of black beaches, wildlife drowned in oil and rescue teams desperately trying to save those still breathing under a thick layer of the black thick goo--20 freaking years and this company has yet to pay for its negligence.

Is the end of this court battle finally in sight?

A federal appeals court on Monday ordered Exxon Mobil Corp to pay $507.5 million in punitive damages stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, plus 5.9% interest running from the 1996 trial judgment.

That's nickels and dimes given the massive damage the spill caused.

The amount is a fraction of the $5 billion in punitive damages originally awarded to fishermen, Alaska natives, business owners and other litigants by a jury in 1996, and equals the compensatory damages agreed to in a subsequent settlement, Reuters reported.

The opinion issued on Monday by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set the punitive damages figure and determined the date from which the interest would run, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the maximum ratio of punitive to compensatory damages is 1:1 under maritime law, according to the report.

In a split decision, the appeals court ordered each party to bear its own attorney fees and court costs.

The oil spill from the Exxon Valdez supertanker in March 1989 was the worst in the nation's history, blackening more than 1,200 miles of Alaska's coastline. The clean-up alone cost around $2.5 billion.

At the time of the spill I thought this company would perish in the spill, not only because of the legal ramifications (which, as we can see, have been next to nothing in 20 years), but also because in the court of public opinion Exxon had been convicted, and many people vowed to never buy Exxon gas after the spill.

Well, Exxon is still alive and kicking, which suggests that people either never stopped buying from Exxon or eventually forgot about the incident.

I for one have never, ever purchased gas from Exxon since the spill, and I never will...not unless nothing but Exxon pumps remain, which isn't going to happen.

Maybe I'm better at keeping my word, or maybe I'm good at holding a grudge. In any case, I simply cannot forget the images of the death and destruction that tanker left in its wake. Source: Reuters, My Twisted Mind
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