Oil Watchdog

08-23-07 by dugan

ExxonMobil is quick to raise gasoline prices whenever "supplies are short."

But its ability to go slow is phenomenal when it comes to big lawsuits.

Exxon’s army of lawyers has spent more than a decade delaying and denying a damage award over the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker accident that fouled Alaskan waters and shoreline. Now, the last card is about to be played. Exxon this week asked the U.S. Supreme Court  to overturn the $2.5 billion civil judgment that would pay tens of thousands of fishermen, cannery workers and others harmed by the spill.

The story, originally from the Anchorage Daily News, notes that 20% of the plaintiffs in the class action suit have died since it was filed and 33,000 remain.