Ruling Limits Exxon Spill Claims

Exxon Corp. must pay civil damages only to those who suffered direct economic losses because of the nation’s worst oil spill, a judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland ruled that sport fishermen, fish processors, boat charterers and other groups and individuals could not pursue damage claims against Exxon or the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. because the spilled oil from the Exxon Valdez did not physically harm them.

Commercial fishermen, however, would still be able to sue Exxon and Alyeska to recover lost profits. Alyeska, which operates the Alaska oil pipeline, is a consortium of subsidiaries of Exxon and six other oil companies.

The judge acknowledged the legal ambiguities he faced in forming his decision, and urged that the case be quickly taken up by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The cornerstone of his ruling Friday is that the wreck of the Exxon Valdez was a “classic maritime tort” and, thus, must be decided under general maritime law. In law, torts are wrongful acts for which a civil suit can be brought.

The spill satisfied the requirements to be classified as a maritime tort, he said, because it occurred on the high seas, or in navigable waters, and because it “bears a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity.”

A 1927 maritime law cited prominently by Holland holds that a plaintiff may not recover future economic losses when negligence does not result in physical harm.

The Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in March, 1989, and spewed about 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound.