Supreme Court Considers Exxon Punitives in Arguments Today
Updated: Exxon Mobil Corp. will rely on an argument advanced recently by many highly regulated industries when its lawyer asks the U.S. Supreme Court today to bar punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Exxon contends the Clean Water Act already regulates oil spills, and private suits for damages aren’t authorized, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). In the same vein, the company argues that maritime law, which controls the shipping industry, does not provide for punitives.
Banks have made the same argument in class action suits by investors, the newspaper says. Drug makers will also rely on the theory to argue against damages in injury suits based on Food and Drug Administration labeling requirements.
The case comes to the court 19 years after the oil tanker hit a reef and spilled 11 million gallons of oil off the coast of Alaska, according to McClatchy Newspapers. Exxon has been appealing the verdict for 14 years.
Exxon, represented by former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger, also targets the size of the punitive award. At $2.5 billion dollars, it is the largest in U.S. history and larger than the total of all punitive awards affirmed by federal appeals courts, its brief says.
More in the ABA Journal’s “At Sea Over Punitives.”
A summary of the Feb. 27 oral arguments is available at this post.
Updated on 2/28/2008 at 8:45 a.m. to include a link to a summary of the Feb. 27 arguments.
