Exxon Valdez Outrage-U S Supreme Court Cuts Punitive Damages to Ridiculous Levels
While this topic is virtually unrelated to lawsuit funding, it is related to yesterday's post about the US Chamber's "tort reform" strategies. As reported in several newspapers today, the US Supreme Court struck down the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill punitive damage award from an already adjusted $2.5 Billion to a mere $500 Million.. The decision serves as a glaring reminder that this notion of "tort reform" as it relates to the interests of big business and big insurance always screws the little guy. Most of these "little guys" probably vote for the very people that the US Chamber spends millions on to support its' pro-business, anti-consumer agenda. These misguided citizens don't realize what their support for these anti-consumer crusades means until a piece of the pro-business agenda effects them. In this case, those most effected are Republican voting citizens of the state of Alaska, most of whom are fisherman and their families. Justices Ginsberg and Kennedy led the dissent, which correctly stated that it is up to Congress to legislate punitive damage restrictions, not the United States Supreme Court.
The Court, which continues its crusade of providing a pro-business legislative service from the bench, found that the punitive damage award may not exceed the amount of damages paid to compensate victims. Justice David Souter said, writing for the majority, that a penalty should be "reasonably predictable". Never mind that this was the worst oil spill in United States history and virtually destroyed 1200 miles of Alaskan coastline. Never mind that a federal jury ruled that an appropriate "penalty" for the spill was $5 Billion and a federal appeals court cut that award in half and ruled that $2.5 Billion was appropriate. The ruling reduces the punitive award to the 33,000 plaintiffs effected by the spill and the ruling from $75,000 per plaintiff (ruled "fair" by the jury that heard the case) to a mere $15,000 per plaintiff, hardly enough to put back the pieces of their shattered lives. According to some reports, considering today's gas prices and Exxon Mobil profits, the $2.5 Billion award was approximately 2 days of Exxon Mobil's gross profits. Exxon Mobile's profits for 2007 were almost $41 Billion.
Jeffrey Fisher, attorney for the plaintiffs said: "Commercial fishermen, Native Alaskans, landowners, businesses and local governments involved in the lawsuit have each received about $15,000...for having their lives and livelihood destroyed and haven't received a dime of emotional-distress damages."
And what did the US Chamber have to say about the award reduction? Amar Sarwal, general litigation counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the ruling gives an "extraordinary amount of guidance" to courts beyond the Exxon Valdez case. Did you catch that? The Chamber is looking forward to the next batch of citizens that it can screw!
My advice to all readers of this blog is to write to the Supreme Court, your Senators and Congressmen and express outrage at the decision. I would also suggest to all of you Alaskans who voted for George W. Bush twice and who have voted Republican for many years to take a long look at our country's current state of affairs, especially at how our government continues to sacrifice the rights of individual citizens in support of big business, big insurance and other pro-business special interests. I encourage you to study the issues and the candidates and vote for those who speak out in support of individual rights, not corporate ones. Together, we can take back our country, one vote at a time.
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