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Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: Exxon Corporation
Current Parent Company: Exxon Mobil
Penalty: $507,500,000
Year: 2008
Date: June 25, 2008
Offense Group: environment-related offenses
Primary Offense: environmental violation
Violation Description: On March 24, 1989 Exxon's supertanker Valdez went aground off the coast of Alaska and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound, polluting more than 700 miles of shoreline. After several years of legal maneuvering, in September 1994 a federal jury ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion in punitive damages. Exxon delayed as long as possible in paying any of the damages by pursuing a protracted appeals process. In 2001 it got a federal appeals court to rule that the punitive damage award was excessive, prompting the judge in the case to reduce the amount to $4 billion. The case finally reached reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2008 slashed the punitive damage award to $507.5 million.
Level of Government: federal
Action Type: private litigation
Court: District of Alaska
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
Case ID: A89-0095-CV
Case Name: In re Exxon Valdez
Private Lawsuit Resolution Type: verdict
Facility State: Alaska
HQ Country of Current Parent: USA
HQ State of Current Parent: Texas
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: publicly traded
Major Industry of Current Parent: oil and gas
Specific Industry of Current Parent: oil & gas
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Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.