ELR Citation: ELR 20130
No(s). s. 04-35182, -35183 (9th Cir. Jun 15, 2009)

The Ninth Circuit held that post-judgment interest on the $507.5 million in punitive damages awarded to the plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case will run from the date the judgment was entered—September 12, 1996. Plaintiffs’ entitlement to punitive damages was "meaningfully ascertained" when the original district court judgment was entered in 1996. Neither the evidentiary basis for the award nor the legal foundation for the award has been disturbed after nearly a dozen years of subsequent litigation. Interest on the $507.5 million judgment shall, therefore, run from September 24, 1996, at the statutorily set rate of rate of 5.9%. In addition, the court ruled that each party is to bear its own costs.

[A prior decision in this litigation can be found at 38 ELR 20149.]