The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Friday reduced by $2 billion a 1994 damages award against ExxonMobil corporation in respect of the sinking of the tanker Exxon Valdez, which caused a major Alaska oil spill [Anchorage Daily News archive] when it ran aground [BBC file report] in Prince William Sound in 1989. A three-judge panel held [ruling, PDF] that the original $5 billion punitive damage award against the corporation was excessive in light of a 2003 US Supreme Court ruling on the need for punitive damages to be reasonable and proportionate to the harm incurred and the cleanup and compensation efforts already made by Exxon.
|