Thursday, January 29, 2004 By Rachel D'Oro, Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay about $6.75 billion on Wednesday to thousands of Alaskans affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The ruling is the latest of several damage awards in the case over the past decade: the result of successful appeals in federal court by Exxon. The company plans to appeal again. Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Russel Holland ordered the Irving, Texas–based company to pay $4.5 billion in punitive damages and about $2.25 billion in interest. The money is to go to 32,000 fishers, Alaska Natives, landowners, small businesses, and cities affected by the 11-million-gallon spill in Prince William Sound. "We have now closed the trial court doors for the last time in this litigation after 15 years," said David Oesting, lead attorney for those who sued. "We're definitely on track to the end of the entire dispute." The judge had been ordered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the damages awarded in an earlier ruling in light of a Supreme Court decision last year concerning punitive damages. "This ruling flies in the face of the guidelines set by the appeals court," company spokesman Tom Cirigliano said. He said the 9th Circuit has twice vacated Holland's decisions in the case. Holland reduced the Exxon punitive damages award to $4 billion a year ago after a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit sent the original $5 billion verdict back, saying it was excessive. For his latest ruling, the judge was to consider a Supreme Court decision last year involving a Utah traffic accident. The justices ruled that a jury's award of $145 million to punish an insurance company was grossly excessive when actual damages were $1 million. The Supreme Court held that the ratio of punitive to actual damages should not exceed 9-to-1. Attorneys for both sides came up with different estimates for actual damages from the Exxon spill, and both argued that the Supreme Court decision supported their damage claims. The spill occurred March 23, 1989, less than three hours after the Exxon Valdez left the Alyeska Pipeline terminal. The ship grounded, rupturing eight of its 11 cargo tanks and spewing some 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the sound. An estimated 250,000 seabirds and thousands of marine mammals died as a result of the spill, which contaminated more than 1,200 miles of shoreline. Lingering effects of the spill include declines in various marine populations, as well as stunted growth in such species as pink salmon. Source: Associated Press