Exxon ordered to pay $507.5 million to victims of 1989 Alaska spill

SAN FRANCISCO — Exxon Mobil has been ordered to pay $507.5 million in punitive damages to Alaska natives, fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the massive 1989 oil spill off Alaska.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Monday affirms the figure set by the U.S. Supreme Court last year. It also awards interest payments at 5.9 percent to plaintiffs from the date of the original judgment in 1996.

Plaintiffs originally were awarded $5 billion, but that amount was cut in subsequent appeals by Exxon.

The tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground March 24, 1989, spewing 11 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound. The incident remains the worst oil spill in the nation's history.

About 32,600 people were covered by the lawsuit. About 20 percent of them have died since the lawsuit began 20 years ago, said Jeffrey Fisher, an attorney for the victims. Exxon began paying victims judgment money owed last year, he said.

The victims sued in 1989, won a $5 billion punitive damage award in 1994, then saw the case and damage award spend the next 14 years bouncing up and down in the court system.

A divided U.S. Supreme last year cut punitive damages in the case to $507.5 million from $2.5 billion and referred the question of any interest owed to the San Francisco appeals court.

A spokesman said Exxon will "review the opinion before commenting further."