Exxon Valdez Damages Reduced

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled to cut the punitive damages for the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster to $507.5 million.
A jury decided in 1994 that Exxon should pay $5 billion in punitive damages and in 2006, a federal appeals court cut that verdict to $2.5B.
The $507.5 million amounts to punishment on top of the $3.4 billion in cleanup costs, compensatory payments and fines Exxon already has paid.  The 5-3 ruling was written by Justice David Souter, who stated that punitive damages may not exceed what the company already paid to compensate victims for economic losses.
On the question of whether Exxon Mobil was liable for punitive damages at all, the court split 4-4, which left standing the appeals court opinion that the company was liable. Justice Alito, an owner of Exxon shares, took no part in the case.  While the 5-3 ruling limited damages is getting all the press, the 4-4 split on punitive damages, with a conservative judge not participating, may be the more important ruling.