Anchorage Daily News editorial re Exxon Valdez decision

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.adn.com/328/story/446407.html

Exxon verdict
Supreme Court makes life easier for corporate wrong-doers

Published: June 25th, 2008 11:48 AM
Last Modified: June 25th, 2008 11:55 AM

With Wednesday's ruling in the Exxon Valdez punitive damages case, a 5-3 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court took it upon themselves to write new law that shields corporate wrong-doers. Their ruling makes it much harder to prevent businesses from engaging in profitable, but dangerous corner-cutting. Exxon left a known alcoholic captain, someone who didn't even have a valid license to drive a car, in charge of an overworked, skeleton tanker crew. And wouldn't you know, that ship ended up on the rocks, spilling 11 million gallons of sticky crude oil across more than a thousand miles of Alaska coastline.

A federal court jury listened to four months of testimony and decided Exxon's irresponsible behavior deserved punitive damages of $5 billion. At the time, it was one year of the company's profits.

After fourteen years of appeals, the Supreme Court cut the award to $500 million, including interest. At Exxon's current rate of profit, it can pay off that sum in less than five days. That's a 98.6 percent reduction in the financial pain imposed by the award.

The only kind thing to be said about the Supreme Court ruling is, it could have been worse. Exxon tried to get almost the entire punitive damage award wiped out, using creative arguments from maritime law and the federal clean water act. The court at least had the good sense not to let Exxon off the hook altogether -- although the four most reliably pro-business justices would have done so.

It's important to remember, the $5 billion award was not the product of a runaway jury. The jury awarded only a third of the actual and punitive damages that the plaintiffs sought.

The trial judge, H. Russel Holland, repeatedly upheld an award in the $4 to $5 billion range. Judge Holland was no raving anti-business activist. The former law partner of Alaska's long-serving Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, he was appointed by Republican President Reagan.

Jury foreman Ken Murray said after he and his colleagues issued the $5 billion judgment, "We looked at the company's bottom line and financial status and said here's a company that continued to make profits. Doesn't look like a bad thing had happened to this company. We weighed that against what would get their attention. . . . Is this going to be enough to tell the Exxons of the world to stop it and to take a look at all of their safety-sensitive positions?"

Even at $5 billion, the full punitive damage judgment was not that painful to Exxon. On the first full day of trading after the ruling, Exxon's stock actually went up 75 cents a share. In its annual reports in the years right after the spill, Exxon told investors that lawsuits arising from the spill would not have an adverse impact on the company.

Turns out Exxon was right about that.

And so, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, the message today to companies that cut corners and risk ruining the lives of thousands of innocent people is this: Go ahead, take the chance, if you want to. If you gamble and lose, you won't lose that much. We've made sure that whatever you have to pay will be just another cost of doing business.

BOTTOM LINE: Exxon was the big winner with Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling.

[babylonsister]

1. This really disgusted me; I can't even imagine how Alaskans feel. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

2. It's almost unbearably hard to take.

If you haven't yet, check out the comments to the ADN article reporting the verdict. It will give you some idea of how people are feeling here today.

http://community.adn.com/adn/adn_pubstory_446057#comment-274968

[wtmusic]

14. "I guess some of you are right -- Vote Obama, vote Muslium!!!"

Muslium? :silly:

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I assume you saw my comment

under that brainiac's post. That one cracked me up, too.

[Glorfindel]

5. Well, Alaskans keep voting for Repukes, no matter how sleazy

And only two members of the current Supreme Court were appointed by a Democratic president. Maybe some day Alaskans will have an "aha!" moment. Hope, as they say, springs eternal. :-)

[Blue_In_AK]

13. This is the year to do it.

We have very good Democratic candidates running for both Ted Stevens' and Don Young's seats, and the contests are very competitive. With all the corruption investigations, trials and convictions, and the the insult of this verdict, Alaska could very well go blue this fall. Don't be surprised if it happens.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

3. This is insane.

If you've got the money, you can get away with murder (although it helps to have a Supreme Court stacked with corporate-fascist lapdogs). I can only hope that this gets some national coverage, and more people will get on the Exxon/Mobil boycott bandwagon (I haven't bought a drop from them since the Valdez tragedy).

[roguevalley]

4. turn over any rock on the sound and you find oil. this is almost more

than I can take even though I knew it was coming. fuck east coasters who never got their hands dirty in their lives. they all voted for this abortion.

[Glorfindel]

6. What? "East coasters," from Maryland to Maine, voted for Kerry

and before that, for Gore. What "abortion" did they vote for? Just curious; I live in Mississippi, which has voted for every "abortion" that's ever come down the pike.

[roguevalley]

8. I am talking about people like my great aunts who refused to come

from New Hampshire to Oregon because of the Indians that they were sure would kill them with arrows. (this was the 1960's.) I am talking about urban people who don't have an idea where their food comes from and who don't see anything wrong with fucking over people who work hard to put it on their tables. The west seems to be incomprehensible to some further east and this decision is an abortion. As for everyone eastern, since most of my family is easterners who get it, I am talking about the 5% who don't. The supreme court doesn't get it what a EVIL terrible BITCH this is and their decision shows me that they don't have a fucking clue about working, the environment, what companies do to us, what its like here and the like. This is so beyond terrible, I can hardly bear it. People died waiting for this and EXXON is SUING ALASKA over something right now, some tax thing they have to pay that they feel is 'hurting' them and is 'unfair'. Fuck exxon. Nationalize oil. Fuck the supreme court. Fuck anyone who thinks this is okay.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Ah, Rogue, my dear,

it's a very sad day here today, isn't it? I wish Sarah would just kick Exxon out of here. Of the big three oil companies doing business here, they are positively the worst. They act like they own this place, and the SC has pretty much confirmed that. I'm just sick.

[roguevalley]

32. I know, my darling blue.Its so awful. Palin could do a lot of good kicking

them out. She would guarentee re-election. Hugs to you, honey. I feel sick.

[Beausoleil]

41. I saw the same thing in Ressurrection Bay

The effects of the spill were felt all around the Kenai penninsula as well as PW Sound.

I saw salmon right out of the bay that had sores, infections, nasty looking flesh. This was ten years after the spill.

What was disgusting to me was seeing the apologists on TV saying, "See how pretty it is now? You can't even tell there was a spill here". Yeah? Lift a rock and look under it, stupid.

[Broadslidin]

37. The 'boycott bandwagon' is bygones, with Exxon/Mobil getting out of the retail end of the biz.

Tis simply,
a waste of 'money'
playing the marketing game with the little people.

[Phred42]

7. Alaskans JUST GOT WHAT THEY WISHED FOR

Sorry kids - you voted for it - you got it

:nopity:

[roguevalley]

9. Fuck you. Our elections were STOLEN! Murkowski got 210% of

the vote in some of the districts in our state. Fuck you and your fucking violin.

EDIT: if you weren't a coward, you wouldn't have disabled your profile, you coward.

[Phred42]

10. then DO something about it

[roguevalley]

33. Do something about it? Bite me. what have you done about Diebold

where you are? I am assuming you live on the same planet as the rest of us, though I would think your callus commentary precludes that assumption.

[Phred42]

11. My Profile is not disabled

[Blue_In_AK]

15. Your profile icon does not show up, Phred

Maybe it's just invisible to Alaskans. :sarcasm:

And if you think this decision is okay, I can't wait for the corporations to get away with some big disaster in your state and see how you feel about it.

[Phred42]

20. I didn't say it was Ok.

And what's my ICON have to do with it?

[Blue_In_AK]

21. ??

ERROR: No such user profile

The user has disabled his/her user profile.


This is what RogueValley meant when she said your profile was disabled. Your post "my profile is not disabled" is a lie.

[Phred42]

24. I really don't know what you're refering to.

Gettin a bit rabid there Blue.....

I log in and I post - that's all I know.

[Blue_In_AK]

26. Forgive me for being "rabid"

You were a bit rabid yourself in implying that Alaskans deserved this verdict.

For your info, what I'm referring to is when one goes to the options section here (located at the top), click on "user profiles," and type in "Phred42," one is advised that the user profile is disabled. Thus, other DU members can know nothing at all about you. From past experience, many people who have disabled their profiles have turned out to be not necessarily fine upstanding progressive DUers but perhaps trolls, freepers or whatever.

I'm not saying or implying that you are -- I'm just saying that RogueValley was frustrated when she tried to see (maybe) where you were from or whatever, and could find no info. We don't need to know your life story, but it is sometimes educational to see when a person joined DU, how many posts they have, where they're from, or whatever. When you joined, you must have chosen for some reason not to let us in on that information, as is your right, but it does tend to raise suspicions.


I'm just a little touchy today. This opinion has me very upset as I was here on Good Friday 1989 and remember, as do all Alaskans who were here that day, the horrible sick feeling that washed over us when we heard the news about the spill. You have to understand that Prince William Sound is one of the most beautiful places on earth, that the damage to the ecosystem was and is devastating, and that many people's way of life was destroyed. This is no small matter, and the Supreme Court has clearly shown their colors this day (if we had any doubt before).

I apologize if I offended you.

[roguevalley]

34. Blue, you are waaay too nice. that is why I love you. The other posts are

for Phred, who apparently is too sexy for his life or he would share more of it in his damned profile.

[roguevalley]

31. bullshit. you have to hide your profile to make it disappear.

[roguevalley]

30. bullshit. you don't give a damn about what happened or you would have

had some RESPECT! This is the most terrible disaster. Those of us who live here haven't recovered. AND your profile is disabled. You are hiding. What are you, a freeper? Trolls hide their profile.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Not all of us. n/t

[babylonsister]

22. That sucks of you; we could all hope the SC would make a good

decision, the right decision. It's not all Alaska's fault, and for you to place blame like that is ignorant. I live in rethug TX. If that oil spill happened in my backyard I'd be hopping mad, too, and I have nothing to do with who's on the SC. I'm sure the posters here don't either.

[Phred42]

25. Alaska has been voting Repug for a long time.

Obviously some in Alaska have not voted repug.

You vote repug - you get what you asked for - not what you deserve perhaps, but want you asked for.

These rabid folks should spend more time taking it out on their repug 'friends' at home

Keep this up that they'll lock this sucker down

then you won't have Phred42 "to kick around any more"

[babylonsister]

27. You need to learn some grace, and compassion. It'd do you a world

of good.

[roguevalley]

35. where are you from, fred. tell us what addled assholes you vote for

each election. You seem to think that our state has a lock on dickheads. If you weren't hiding, we would see. and I doubt a whole helluva lot you don't know dick about alaska.

[wtmusic]

18. AK voted almost 2-1 for W in 2004.

They got their oil president, and they got the shaft.

WTF were they thinking would happen? :shrug:

[Blue_In_AK]

19. I know.

A lot of people have been fooled here over the past many years into thinking that the Republicans represent their interests. Thankfully many seem to be waking up. With any luck at all, we will elect Democrats to replace Stevens and Young, and hopefully our three little electoral votes will go to Obama.

So much corruption and oiled money has been exposed since 2006, I think we may stand a chance of flipping this year. I'm not a religious person, but I'm praying.

[Larkspur]

23. They thought that they could have a beer with W?

:shrug:

[roguevalley]

36. WHAT THE FUCK HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH THE OIL SPILL!?!?!?!

This is about Cordova and all the people in the villages who lost their ENTIRE WAY OF LIFE because oil companies don't give a damn. You don't know shit about alaska. Don't dump on us when you probably come from a state with dickheads in every office, state and national. We were dem for YEARS and we were Mike Gravel's state.

[wtmusic]

38. This has to do with ANWR.

My sister lives in Fairbanks and last time I checked that was in Alaska. I've been all around the state and I've seen what the gold miners did to a beautiful natural landscape. When people vote for a president with a dismal environmental record what in the freaking hell do they expect?

I won't join the crowd who says they got what they "deserved" -- no one deserves that. But hopefully Alaskans as a whole will see that the GOP offers nothing and that the North Slope will look like Cordova if they don't vote the "dickheads" out of office.

[roguevalley]

42. Ah, so I suppose people in Nevada who got the nuke byproducts

'deserved' what they got. What about Florida? Do they deserve it too? Does it occur to you, oh knowledgeable one, that people who get 110-210% in the returns from about half the districts of this state didn't ACTUALLY WIN THE ELECTION!? WHat about Ohio? They have the same problem. Do they deserve what 'they got'? Since the election was stolen and the real vote never known, how is it that you can tar us with that hate? No one knows how Alaska voted because the elections were STOLEN.

I've lived here thirty years and half my family was born here. We didn't vote for this and we didn't deserve it. Don't let that bother you.

[wtmusic]

44. Deserve is your word.

Just don't be surprised. And I don't think W won by 2-1 in a "stolen" election. :eyes:

[Doctor_J]

28. Any chance this will help Don Young and Ted Stevens into retirement?

Alaskans? Enough people pissed about this to vote (D) this year?

[Blue_In_AK]

29. They were looking pretty "iffy" even before this decision.

If the decision increases the likelihood that those two bums are kicked out, it will be the silver lining to this cloud.

Ted Stevens' strong Democratic opponent is Anchorage's mayor Mark Begich, who is polling about equal with Ted at this point. The two Democrats running for Don Young's seat are Diane Benson and Ethan Berkowitz. Both are good, although I support Diane who is much more progressive, in my opinion. Ethan has the support of Rahm Emanuel and the DLC, which I think makes him suspect. Polls have shown that either could beat Young; however, he has to make it past his own primary where he's being challenged by Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell and Alaska state representative Gabrielle LeDoux. Even if one of those other Republicans ends up being elected, they would be infinitely better than Young who has been on my hit list for years.

[CanonRay]

39. Alaska has voted Republican forever

so they are at least partially responsible for these idiots on the Supreme Court. They are reaping what they've sowed.

[boomerbust]

40. The Bush answer to Alaska's pain

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

[yurbud]

43. Exxon made me a lefty. I was supposed to be a fisherman in Alaska that summer

Instead, I spent wiping oil off rocks, and picking up dead sea birds and a fox.