Here's an update on Exxon Valdez payments

The Seattle law firm handling distribution of punitive damages from the Exxon Valdez case reports handing out $248 million so far.

That represents about 65 percent of the $383 million Exxon Mobil Corp. has paid as partial settlement of the epic civil lawsuit stemming from the 1989 oil spill in Prince William Sound.

Law firm Keller Rohrback says money distributed so far has gone out in 23,784 payments to commercial fishermen and others claiming harm from the spill.

The firm has been plowing through the process of paying out the punitive damages since last November.

It's a tedious job, with dozens of different classes of plaintiffs involved, not to mention the IRS and other lienholders asserting some claim to Exxon Valdez money.