From the BBC:
Exxon Mobil has won the right to appeal against $2.5bn in damages relating to a 1989 Alaskan oil spill. The US Supreme Court said it would hear the appeal against damages due to victims of the Valdez oil spill.
The case has dragged on since 1994, with US oil giant Exxon fighting to reduce the amount, which the company has called excessive. Lawyers for the victims, some of whom are now dead, said that the damages award was "barely more than three weeks of Exxon’s net profit". In 2006, Exxon reported the highest ever net annual profit for a US business at $39.5bn.
Read the full story here.
Even though I seriousy doubt it’s the case, I live in hope that the court is hearing this case to actually consider raising the damages, not lowering them. But I fear that’s wishful thinking, and as a large oil company that owns Bush, Exxon will end up having the supreme court rubber-stamp their reduction in fines, and somehow adding an air of legitimacy to their story.
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