Exxon Valdez Judgment Returns to Appeals Court

Seventeen years after the Exxon Valdez accident in Prince Williams Sound, the $5 billion judgment against the company is still tied up in federal court of appeals and will be heard in court this week.

The appeal stems from an Anchorage jury's award of punitive damages to 34,000 fishermen and Alaskan natives deemed injured by the spill. The oil tanker struck the chartered 'Bligh Reef,' which was outside the traffic lanes in Prince Williams Sound.

The jury claimed that Exxon and the 'Exxon Valdez' Captain Joseph Hazelwood were reckless and responsible for the accident, because the company was aware of Hazelwood's drinking problem, and he was below deck at the time of the accident. Over 1,500 miles of Alaskan coastline was damaged as a result of the crude oil spill.

Exxon has long argued that it spent more than $3 billion to settle federal and state lawsuits and for cleanup operations. The company has long stated that it should pay no more than $25 million in punitive damages.

In two previous appeals, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered U.S. District Judge H. Russell Holland of Anchorage to reduce the judgment against Exxon, saying it was unconstitutionally excessive. He eventually reduced the judgment to $4.5 billion plus interest.