So I started off my morning routine by loading the Anchorage Daily News website, and was unpleasantly greeted by the following headline:
Exxon Maintains it Doesn't Owe Interest
After seeing the reduction of the original Exxon Valdez judgment by a factor of 10, and after almost 20 years of justice delayed, they're still trying to screw Alaskans over.
As if the decision couldn't be more absurd, Exxon is now trying to make it happen just that way. I'll let SCOTUSblog take it from here:
Under Supreme Court Rule 42.1, "If a judgment is modified or reversed with a direction that a judgment for money be entered below, the mandate will contain instructions with respect to the allowance of interest." According to Exxon, the rule provides that reviewing courts retain discretion to determine whether interest should be paid on a judgment and, if so, from what date. But Exxon argues that since even before the rule’s enactment, the "default rule" has held that "if a reviewing court fails to provide directions in its judgment or mandate for the payment of interest, no interest is allowable."
Here's the thing: the Supreme Court didn't make the final decision. Their ruling merely found that punitive damages couldn't exceed compensatory damages, and sent it back to the lower courts for the final judgement. But since the Supreme Court didn't say it should include interest IN BIG FRICKIN' BLOCK LETTERS LIKE THIS, Exxon feels that the lower courts don't get to include interest in their judgement.
The infinitesimally small saving grace is that they at least say the SCOTUS should rule on this immediately and not submit this to another few years of litigation. If I had my way, here would be my ruling (printed so Exxon's lawyers can't miss it):
I HEREBY SENTENCE ALL EXXON EXECUTIVES AND LAWYERS TO LIVE IN CORDOVA, AK, TO TRY AND FIND EMPLOYMENT (where there's hardly any to be had) AND SEEK OUT ANY REMAINING COASTAL WILDLIFE. NO PROTECTION FROM THE CITIZENS OF CORDOVA WILL BE PROVIDED.