Monday, June 29, 2009

Exxon reportedly to pay interest

Exxon Mobil Corp. will heed the recent ruling from a federal appeals court and pay interest on the U.S. Supreme Court judgment from last year.

That's the word from Frank Mullen, a Homer salmon fisherman and closer watcher of the 20-year Exxon Valdez case.

Mullen says in an e-mail that Brian O’Neill, one of the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs, announced the news to a group of Cook Inlet fishermen on Saturday.

The lawyer said the interest amounts to as much as $540 million, which is an even larger sum than the $507.5 million in punitive damages the Supreme Court awarded.

"Brian assured the crowd that checks for the interest portion of the award would be forthcoming in September," Mullen wrote.

I've checked with the court, but nothing official has been filed from lawyers on either side of the case.

I've also checked the Web site of the Seattle law firm that's handling distribution of Exxon Valdez money, but nothing is posted there either about the interest.

Deckboss has no reason to doubt Mullen's report, however.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well, as for the interest!! I think they should divide it equally among all people.
So when are they paying the unoiled area?