After 17 years, you would think that Exxon/Mobil, the world's largest, and most profitable, oil company, would pay its considerable debt to Alaskan fishermen for the 1993 Valdez disaster. It hasn't, it isn't and it probably won't, ... all because Exxon is playing by the Golden Rule.
If you are an oil company, with unlimited cash, the Golden Rule goes like this: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
Since 1993, Exxon has spent billions of dollars avoiding payment in court with a strategy of stall, appeal, delay, and appeal. In 1994, a judge cut the amount of the $5 billion award in half, ruling that it was excessive. But for that much Gold, Exxon is willing to bend the rules.
Today, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear Exxon's claim that the remaining $2.5 billion in punitive damages is excessive. Exxon/Mobil, no doubt, is counting on the fact that the current Supreme Court is the most pro-business court in U.S. history. A ruling is expected in June.
In the meantime, more than 6,000 plaintiiffs have died, waiting for a check from Exxon that may never come.
