Supreme Court Overturns Exxon Valdez Penalty

The Supreme Court today greatly reduced the $2.5 billion penalty from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.  

In the court's opinion, Justice David Souter concluded that the $2.5 billion in punitive damages was excessive under federal maritime law, and should be cut to the amount of actual harm.

Apparently, an amount of money equal to what Exxon Mobil rakes in every 2.5 days was too high.  Instead, the penalty is limited to what the company makes in a typical afternoon.

Yeah, that'll be enough to make them change their ways.

Those voting to hand back $2 billion to the richest company in the history of the world were Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy and Souter.  Those thinking that it might take more than an half a day's pay to make protecting the environment more attractive than cutting corners were Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer.  Alito, who owns a big chunk of Exxon stock, sat this one out.