U.S. Supreme Court Near Decision on Interest Payment in Exxon Valdez Spill

in the next several days may say whether Exxon Mobil Corp. must pay $488 million in interest to tens of thousands of victims of the 1989 Alaska oil spill, the worst in U.S. history. The high court last month reduced the punitive-damage award in the case to $507.5 million from $2.5 billion. That ruling didn't address whether fishermen and other victims also get interest dating back to 1996, and both sides in the case now want the justices to weigh in on the issue. The interest question ``should be decided by this court and should be decided now,'' Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest energy company, argued in court papers filed earlier this month in Washington. The issue is one that has never been addressed by the high court, according to Jeffrey Fisher, the lawyer who argued the victims' case before the justices. The question... [read full story]