ExxonMobil argues against paying interest on punitive damages

Tue, July 15, 2008
Posted in Alaska News, Top Stories

The Anchorage Daily News is reporting ExxonMobil corporation says it should not have to pay $488 million in interest on the punitive damages awarded for the company’s role in the 1989 Prince William Sound oil spill.

Lori Townsend, APRN - Anchorage

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One Comment to “ExxonMobil argues against paying interest on punitive damages”

John Hunnicutt on July 16, 2008 at 11:44 am

What a load of crap. Exxon drug their feet and kept this lawsuit tied up in the courts for nearly 2 decades while the Alaskans whose lives they affected had to do without and hope for justice. In the end, Exxon spent nearly as much on legal expenses as they would have paid if they had just shut up and settled the judgement. And they got out of paying the bulk of that judgement and still they are trying to screw Alaskans over.

Does Exxon really believe that these families whose livelihoods were ruined didn’t have to pay any interest on the lives they were forced to subsidize by other means?

I think Alaskans need to send a signal to Exxon that they are no longer welcome here. Obviously the only thing Exxon cares about is money, so it seems like the only way we’ll ever make them understand that you can’t just come up here and do whatever you want is to take away their ability to make their money here.
And it’s way past time for our elected officials to send a memo to the courts telling them that it is unacceptable to allow a case to sit in court and make a planiff wait 20 years for justice. At the very least, Exxon should have been ordered to start making some kind of payments for restitution when the first judgement was ordered.