Ruling moves Exxon spill payments closer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. has lost the latest round in a dispute over punitive damage payments for the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska's Prince William Sound.

A federal judge in Alaska refused Wednesday to overturn the plan for distribution of payments among 33,000 plaintiffs, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Sea Hawk Seafoods Inc. argued for a new plan, but U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland found that the company accepted the existing arrangement years ago.

In March 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit rocks in Prince William Sound shortly after leaving Valdez, the southern terminus of the Alaska pipeline. Exxon Mobil has already paid billions of dollars for cleanup and for compensation to the fishing industry.

In 1994, a jury in Alaska set punitive damages at $5 billion, a figure subsequently ruled too high by the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawyers for the company and plaintiffs have settled the amount at $383 million, but the amount of interest is still being disputed.

Lawyers say $150 million may get into the hands of plaintiffs by the end of the year.