Liability, awards and settlements

13.11, Exxon Valdez, compensation

US: a federal judge issued a ruling that could clear the way for a multi-million-dollar payout of punitive damages to thousands of commercial fishermen and others who claimed harm from tanker Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. Judge H. Russel Holland of Anchorage rejected a bid from one plaintiff, Sea Hawk Seafoods Inc, to throw out a complex allocation plan for the damages and replace it with one that would steer potentially millions more dollars to the company. In a 24-page ruling, Judge Holland rejected Sea Hawk’s request, finding that the fish processing company had agreed years ago to the allocation plan. Barring a Sea Hawk appeal, lawyers for the plaintiffs now hope to start paying out damages secured from Exxon Mobil Corp to fishermen, cannery workers, land owners, Alaska Natives and other claimants. The payments would signal the beginning of the end of an epic case. After Exxon Valdez hit a reef and spilled nearly 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, an Anchorage jury in 1994 awarded plaintiffs $5.0bn in punitive damages. Exxon fought the award for years, arguing it had already paid out billions of dollars to clean up the spill and compensate fishermen and others. In June the US Supreme Court held Exxon liable for no more than $507.5mn in punitive damages. Lawyers for the company and plaintiffs subsequently worked out a partial settlement covering $383.0mn of the damages, and continue to battle in the lower courts over the amount of payable interest. With Holland’s consent, lawyers for the plaintiffs hope to hand out a total of about $150.0mn by the end of the year to certain categories of claimants.