‘Punitive’ damages don’t hurt big oil

After 19 years of scratching and clawing and fighting against the Exxon Corporation and the effects of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, it is finally over. The U.S. Supreme Court did finally hold that corporations are liable for the actions of their ship captains, but proved that it is profitable for a corporation to fight punitive damages and for an oil company to spill oil into a pristine environment! The little man now has no hope left against the corporation. The Supreme Court ruled that the ratio of punitive damages vs. compensatory damages should be 1:1, setting the punitive damage award to $507.5 million. This, I feel, is in direct conflict with those cases that were settled during the Exxon case involving this compensatory/punitive ratio. Today that is less than a half day’s revenue for ExxonMobil — which in 2007 posted $404.5 billion in revenues.

ExxonMobil is now the No. 1 corporation in the world by revenue. Punitive damages, whose role is to deter reprehensible conduct, now amount to a parking ticket. Big oil now not only grips tight the American pocketbook, but opens the door for further erosion of individual protections. Yes, I am one of the claimants, and yes, I knew many of the people who have died waiting the 19 years for our legal system to do something about it. For me it isn’t about the money; sure, my very small percentage of the take would help. But it is about sending a message to corporations like ExxonMobil that we the people demand better of them. We demand that they honor their original agreements to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. We demand that emergency procedures are put in place so that we are never again faced with the potential harm that a tanker carrying 53 million gallons of oil can effect.

Erik Hjorten

Everett