Brian O’Neill is pissed. Nearly 20 years ago, the 61-year-old litigator sold his partners at plaintiff-averse Faegre & Benson on the idea of representing fishermen injured by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In 1994, when a jury awarded the plaintiffs a $5 billion punitive trophy, he thought he had been vindicated. But in June of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court whacked the award down to $507.5 million. With interest, that’s about $1 billion.
Or maybe not. Justice David Souter’s opinion was silent on interest, and Supreme Court rules normally require the Court to say something about that topic if it tinkers with damages. So the plaintiffs filed a motion, asking the court to clarify the issue, so Exxon Mobil Corporation couldn’t try to get out of paying another $490 million. “Their history is to jack people around until the last day,” O’Neill says.
