A turning point for Prince William Sound herring?

The Prince William Sound herring food and bait fishery will open in November with a guideline harvest level of 500 tons, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced.

Several years of favorable spawning biomass estimates and signs of improving recruitment "support opening this small-scale fishery," the department said, adding: "This is the first time the food and bait fishery has been open since 1998."

What's to blame for PWS herring collapse?

A new journal article examines hypotheses for the decline and poor recovery of Prince William Sound herring, and identifies hatchery pink salmon among possible culprits.

The article finds "no evidence that oil exposure from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, harvest effects, spawning habitat loss, the spawn-on-kelp fishery, or disease have led to either the decline or poor recovery of PWS herring."

Here's the article abstract:

This paper updates previous reviews of the 1993 stock decline of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and focuses on hypotheses about subsequent poor recovery. Recent age structured assessment modeling with covariate analysis indicates that the population dynamics of the sound’s herring are influenced by oceanic factors, nutrition, and, most substantially, hatchery releases of juvenile pink salmon. For the 1993 decline, poor nutrition remains the most probable cause with disease a secondary response. Concerning poor recovery, we examined 16 potential factors and found three to be causal: oceanic factors, poor nutrition, and hatchery releases of juvenile pink salmon. Absences of strong year classes at both Sitka and Prince William Sound after 1993 indicate the action of large-scale ocean processes. Beyond regional-scale environmental factors, two factors specific to the sound influence the population dynamics of herring and are likely impeding recovery. First, pink salmon fry releases have increased to about 600 million annually and may disrupt feeding in young herring, which require adequate nutrition for growth and overwintering survival. Juvenile pink salmon and age-1 herring co-occur in nearshore areas of bays in late spring and summer, and available data on dietary overlap indicates potential competition between the age-1 juvenile herring and juvenile pink salmon. Field studies demonstrate that juvenile herring reduce food intake substantially in the presence of juvenile pink salmon. Second, overwintering humpback whales may consume potentially large amounts of adult herring, but further studies must confirm to what extent whale predation reduces herring biomass.

Major Exxon Valdez payout to begin this month; check the list to see how much money you'll get

A federal judge has approved the start of what has been described as the final distribution of money from the Exxon Valdez case.

About $100 million will be paid to thousands of commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs in the case, with direct deposits to start by the end of this month and check mailings to begin by mid-December, says the Seattle law firm handling the Exxon Valdez money. The payout is expected to take several weeks.

This is the latest round of payments in what has been a lengthy process to dispense roughly $1 billion in winnings and interest generated through the civil suit brought after the 1989 oil spill.

This final distribution almost completes the process, though for various reasons it will take months or even years longer to dispose of the last dollar.

Here is the 895-page list showing how much each claimant can expect to receive in the coming weeks, before deduction of attorney fees.

Deckboss also recommends reading federal Judge H. Russel Holland's order approving the final distribution.

The judge tells a couple of persistent claimants still fighting to grab millions from the pool to just shut up and go away.

He also explains an unfortunate but apparently unavoidable situation in which some cannery workers won't get as much Exxon Valdez money as they should have, while others were overpaid.

Here are the Exxon Valdez payment lists!

As Deckboss reported over the weekend, the administrator of the Exxon Valdez lawsuit winnings is preparing to make a large "final distribution."

Depending on the outcome of certain remaining issues in court, the administrator intends to pay claims according to one of these three very long lists:

Scenario 1 list
Scenario 2 list
Scenario 3 list

Click on each list to find your name and the possible amount of money you can expect, before deduction of attorney fees.

For more information, click here.

$100 million 'final distribution' nears in Exxon case

After nearly two years of handing out winnings from the Exxon Valdez oil spill case, the court-appointed administrator of the process is now talking about a "final distribution."

Lynn Sarko lays out the plan in this 15-page declaration.

Unless you're just itching to decipher this complex document yourself, let me give you some highlights:

• The final distribution will be big, more than $128 million.

• As in past rounds, this distribution will go out in stages. Fishermen and other plaintiffs with no holds on their claims will get their money first. The initial release will be around $100 million.

• Payments could come in December, but January is more likely.

• People in almost claim categories will share in the final distribution.

• Sarko, the administrator, reckons it'll take until 2014 to fully wrap up this case. That is, for example, to deal with claims that have multiple liens against them, to work out disputes among fishing partners over how to divide a claim, or to handle instances of bad addresses or checks never cashed.

• Any "residual funds" will be distributed by year-end 2013.

One final note: Lists for the final distribution showing the amount each claimant is due (before deduction of attorney fees) have been filed in federal court in Anchorage. Normally I would post these lists, but this time Deckboss can't afford the considerable cost to download them from the Pacer court records database. I'll get them somehow.

Anyway, looks like the end of the Exxon Valdez ordeal is finally on the horizon.

Another $10 million coming in Exxon Valdez case

As followers of this blog know, lawyers for plaintiffs in the epic Exxon Valdez oil spill case have been laboriously paying out the winnings since late 2008.

Now the lawyers are asking a federal judge for permission to pay another 781 claims totaling $10.3 million, minus attorney fees.

This money is going to parties with "multiple impairments on their claims," court papers say.

Here is a list showing those who will receive — or maybe won't receive — some money.

More Exxon Valdez money coming

Since November 2008, lawyers for commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez case have been paying out punitive damages and interest in stages.

And the process is continuing.

On Monday, federal Judge Russel Holland approved yet another distribution totaling $24.5 million before deduction of attorney fees.

Here's the lengthy payout list for this round.

It shows some pretty big amounts to be distributed across 51 claim categories.

For example, I saw a couple of claims topping $200,000 in the Chignik salmon seine category, and several for $100,000-plus in the Kodiak salmon seine category.

According to the Seattle law firm handling the distribution, this payout could take "a number of weeks" to complete because of possible impairments on the claims.

Exxon payments might come by year's end

The Seattle administrator who won court approval yesterday to distribute almost $300 million in Exxon Valdez interest is "committed to issuing payments before year end assuming no court orders or appeals to the contrary."

Click here for more details about the payout schedule, as well as deductions to be made from individual payments.

Here comes the Exxon money

Sure enough, Judge H. Russel Holland today signed the order authorizing distribution of a big piece of the interest money in the Exxon Valdez case.

I'll get back to you as soon as I know more about the timeline for sending checks and direct deposits.

Meantime, here is the main payout list, broken into two parts:

Distribution list, part 1

Distribution list, part 2

Major ruling looks near in Exxon Valdez case

Having taken care of a couple of snags, it appears federal Judge H. Russel Holland is ready to issue an order as soon as today authorizing the biggest single distribution yet of Exxon Valdez winnings — close to $300 million — to thousands of commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs.

When the order comes down, I'll post it here!

An Exxon Valdez update

In case anybody doubts it, David Oesting, the lead lawyer for thousands of fishermen and other plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez case, appears to be working his butt off to get his clients paid.

As you'll recall, when we last visited our favorite 20-year court battle, the judge had just ordered a delay in Oesting's plans to distribute close to $300 million in interest payments from Exxon Mobil Corp.

In this eight-page response, Oesting forcefully attempts to explain to the judge that processor Seafood Sales Inc. and a lawyer purporting to represent cannery workers are trying to grab an extra $27.6 million.

Their "dramatic request," if granted, could mean six months of further delay and potentially blow up a complex allocation plan everybody agreed to years ago, Oesting writes.

One other note: The principal behind Seafood Sales is Terry Bertoson. He's also the owner of Sea Hawk Seafoods, which likewise made a play for more cash but was shot down.

Judge delays huge oil spill payout

The Exxon Valdez case — pardon my metaphor. Wesley Loy photo

As you might recall, Deckboss reported in early September how lawyers for the thousands of plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez case were seeking to distribute the largest sum yet — close to $300 million in interest payments from Exxon Mobil Corp.

That post included a long list showing dollar amounts each person in the affected claim categories could expect.

Well, it seems we now have — big surprise here! — yet another delay in this marathon case of constant waiting.

On Oct. 9, federal Judge H. Russel Holland signed this order explaining why he can't yet approve the big money handout.

"The prospect of delaying that distribution troubles the court a good deal," Holland writes.

The delay has to do, in part, with a challenge from cannery workers hoping for additional payments.

Once the issue is resolved, and assuming no further snags, the distribution will commence in late November or early December, lawyers for the plaintiffs say.

That will take us through a full year since the process began to distribute winnings accumulated so far from Exxon.

Lawyers try to save big payout after Exxon objects

Last month we told you about a huge payout of money coming in the Exxon Valdez case. This is the interest on the U.S. Supreme Court's punitive damages award.

Since that post, Exxon Mobil Corp. filed an objection that jeopardized the payout happening quickly.

It's complicated, but in a nutshell, Exxon contends that lawyers holding money for the plaintiffs failed to mark down the company for $4.4 million it believes it's owed back under "assignment agreements" with some fish processors.

To get around the problem, lawyers for the plaintiffs have submitted a new plan to the judge for approval. The plan would reserve the disputed sum for Exxon but otherwise go ahead with the massive distribution of interest money.

It means, however, that the figures needed to be slightly rejiggered in terms of what commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs can expect.

Overall, the lawyers now aim to distribute $294.5 million — down from the $299 million originally proposed — covering 17,297 claims in 47 categories.

Here is the new, two-part list reflecting the new proposed payment amounts before deduction of lawyer fees:

Payment list, part 1
Payment list, part 2

Huge round of Exxon Valdez payments coming

Since last December, lawyers for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case have been gradually distributing $383 million collected thus far as punitive damages.

Now they're preparing to hand out an even bigger sum — $470 million.

This is interest Exxon paid July 1 on the punitive damages award the U.S. Supreme Court ordered last year.

Yesterday, lawyers asked federal Judge H. Russel Holland of Anchorage for permission to distribute almost $299 million of the interest money to 17,297 claimants in 47 categories.

Unless I'm mistaken, this will be the biggest single chunk of Exxon Valdez money to be paid out to date.

Here is a very long list, in two parts, showing gross amounts each claimant is to receive:

Payment list, part 1
Payment list, part 2

I scanned the list and saw lots of payments in excess of $100,000, with some topping $200,000 and even $300,000.

Caretakers of the Exxon Valdez money also are proposing to hand out some additional chunks. Read the details here.

Cash your dang check already!

Now here's some irony for you.

Remember all the weeping and wailing from the thousands who claimed injury and injustice from the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989?

Well, it turns out a bunch of the plaintiffs who have received punitive damages payments from Exxon have not bothered to cash their checks yet!

So says the Seattle law firm that's handling the distribution of Exxon money for the plaintiffs.

"The Administrator notes that a substantial number of checks issued by the EQSF (Exxon Qualified Settlement Fund) from 2008 to present remain un-cashed," the firm said in a posting Friday to its information Web site. "The Administrator urges all recipients of such checks to negotiate them, immediately, to avoid having a bank refuse to honor them as stale."

The firm adds that people with uncashed checks are placing any future interest payments from Exxon in jeopardy.

"For claimants who appear on a future application for punitive damages interest, who have failed to cash their check for punitive damages, the Administrator may be required to VOID their previously issued punitive damages check. To avoid such action, claimants should promptly negotiate these previously issued checks."

Guess somebody better head to the bank, huh.

$4 million in Exxon Valdez payments coming

Federal Judge H. Russel Holland of Anchorage has approved an application from lawyers in the Exxon Valdez case to pay out another $4 million in punitive damages.

People in seven plaintiff categories will divide the money.

The categories are area businesses, personal injury claimants, personal property claimants, fish tenders, non-Native subsistence claimants, aquaculture associations and Native corporations.

Here's the list of claimants and the amounts they will receive, minus attorney fees.

Sorry, I'm not sure exactly when checks or direct deposits will go out. Shouldn't be long, though.

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.

Who remains in line for Exxon Valdez money?

Lawyers in the Exxon Valdez case made some really important filings on Friday.

First, they posted yet another list of people soon to receive money.

The list has 407 names from 26 claim categories. These claimants will split nearly $8.6 million, minus attorney fees.

Another filing is this declaration from Lynn Sarko, the Seattle lawyer whose firm is handling the distribution of Exxon Valdez punitive damages.

The declaration spells out how much money has been distributed so far, and who can expect money in the coming months. Highly recommended reading!

Here are a few key points from the court papers I reviewed:

• After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year, lawyers for commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs worked a partial settlement with Exxon Mobil Corp. for about $383 million.

Once this latest batch of payments goes out, likely by August, more than 90 percent of the settlement money will have been distributed.

• The lawyers plan to hand out the rest of the money over several rounds.

One round will go to “unoiled fisheries.” Another round will go to people in “the smaller remaining claim categories” such as various shellfish fisheries in Cook Inlet, Kodiak and Prince William Sound.

• If I’m reading it correctly, the Sarko declaration says none of the $383 million will be going to claimants in the cannery worker category.

It’s not quite clear to me why not.

More on today's Exxon Valdez ruling

Here's a sliver of additional information on the appeals court decision holding Exxon Mobil Corp. liable for interest payments in the spill case.

"Any party seeking a rehearing must do so within 14 days of today's ruling," says Seattle law firm Keller Rohrback, which is handling distribution of damages to fishermen and other plaintiffs.

Court rules Exxon owes interest in spill case

Here's an opinion today from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals holding that Exxon Mobil Corp. owes interest on the $507.5 million judgment the Supreme Court ordered last year in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case.

This will push total punitive damages to roughly $1 billion.

But fishermen and other plaintiffs had best not hold their breath just yet for a share of the interest money.

Frank Mullen, a Homer commercial fisherman and close follower of the case, explains why:

"There are a number of moves available to Exxon to drag the issue out further:

• Exxon could once again ask for an 'en banc' hearing

• Exxon could appeal to the Supreme Court."

Mullen continues:

"I would not expect any payments associated with interest any time soon ... perhaps 2010?"