Return
to Story Page
To print: Select File and then Print from your
browser's menu
Martin Wolk
Seattle, May 4: More than a decade after the nation's worst oil spill, lawyers for Exxon Corp and Alaska fishermen faced off again in court Monday, arguing over a record $5.3 billion jury verdict.
In a packed Seattle courtroom, Exxon lawyers argued the oil giant should not be forced to pay a record $5 billion in punitive damages despite its acknowledged liability in the 11 million-gallon (41.8 million liter) Exxon Valdez spill.
"This award simply cannot be justified by any of the theories that have been used to justify punitive damages in other cases," Exxon lawyer John Daum told a three-judge panel hearing the appeal of the 1994 verdict.
Noting that the award would in effect wipe out a year's worth of profits for the oil company, Daum said the amount was "way out of line with any award that has ever been upheld by a federal court." The award should be thrown out or sent back for a new trial on the punitive damages issue, he argued.
Exxon, which spent more than $2 billion cleaning up the pollutedbeaches of Prince William Sound and another $1 billion settling government claims, is not disputing the jury's award of $287 million in compensatory damages.
Lawyers for 40,000 fishermen, native Alaskans and other private plaintiffs who contend they were harmed by the 1989 spill said the punitive award was appropriate given the company's reckless conduct in leaving Capt. Joseph Hazelwood in charge of the vessel despite his history of alcoholism.
"Putting a drinking alcoholic in charge of a supertanker was an inherently reckless act," plaintiffs' lawyer Brian O'Neill said. The amount of the award reflects the "tremendous risk" undertaken by the company, he said.
Both lawyers were peppered with questions by the judges, including one extended dialogue over whether Exxon even was liable for the accident.
Judge Charles Wiggins said he was not convinced that Hazelwood's negligence in leaving the bridge at a critical moment necessarily caused the ship to run onto Bligh Reef.
"If that's so, you're notentitled to a damn cent," Wiggins said.
O'Neill responded that Exxon had acknowledged its liability in a "stipulation," meaning both sides agreed and the issue was not even argued at trial. Daum said Exxon admitted liability only for actual and compensatory damages, not punitive damages.
Wiggins later rebuked Daum for referring to the verdict as "the largest punitive damage case in the history of the world."
The judge noted that the nation's biggest tobacco companies recently agreed to pay $206 billion to settle state litigation, which he said was similar to a punitive award.
In addition to the sheer amount of the Alaska jury award, Exxon appealed the case on more narrow grounds, including a dispute over handling of a side settlement and inflammatory remarks made by a bailiff.
At one point during deliberations the bailiff took out his gun and jokingly suggested that one juror could take another juror and put her "out of her misery."
Although deliberations went on for 10 days after the remark,Exxon contends the remark could have been interpreted as a court officer taking sides with a jury faction.
Daum said allowing the remark to go unchallenged would send the message to bailiffs everywhere that they could interfere in the jury process.
Judge Andrew Kleinfeld noted that the bailiff in question had been fired and later died of a heart attack.
"That ought to deter people," he said. In any case, Kleinfeld questioned what assurance there was that a lengthy retrial would be free of such "crazy" incidents.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
------------------------------------------------------------