The Wall Street Journal: Caso Exxon Valdez ante el Supremo

High Court to ReviewExxon Valdez Case

Associated PressOctober 29, 2007 10:13 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into the long-running battle over the $2.5 billion in punitive damages owed by Exxon Mobil Corp. for the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

The justices said they would consider whether the company should have to pay any punitive damages at all. If the court decides some money is due, Exxon is arguing that $2.5 billion is excessive under laws governing shipping and prior high court decisions limiting punitive damages.

Eleven millions gallons of oil spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound when the supertanker ran aground on a reef. A federal appeals court already had cut in half the $5 billion in damages awarded by a jury in 1994. The damages were, by far, the largest ever approved by federal appeals judges, the company said in its brief to the court.

The case probably will be heard in the spring. The court's last ruling on punitive damages, in February, set aside a nearly $80 million judgment against Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA. The money was awarded to the widow of a smoker in Oregon.