Judge slashes Alabama verdict against ExxonMobil

[54anickel]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2004-03-30-exxon-damages_x.htm

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Attorneys for Alabama say a judge's decision to reduce a record $11.9 billion verdict against ExxonMobil (XOM) could ultimately help the state's case survive appeals.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Tracy McCooey decided Monday to reduce the record verdict that Alabama won in a natural gas royalty dispute with ExxonMobil to $3.6 billion, saying she was bringing it in line with U.S. Supreme Court guidelines.

State attorneys Robert Cunningham and Jere Beasley said the move — while certainly not their preference — could prove helpful in the future.

"It dramatically increases the likelihood it will survive Exxon's efforts to have it reversed or reduced on appeal," Cunningham said.

much more...

[tlcandie]

1. I'm sure they know what is best .. but I say take em to the bank!!

From the above linked article:

<snip>
McCooey said there was no question about ExxonMobil's intentions when it drilled natural gas wells in state-owned waters along the Alabama coast.

"This court is thoroughly convinced, as was the jury, that Exxon intentionally and deliberately took actions, from the moment the leases were signed, to commit fraud upon the state," the judge wrote. "Exxon engaged in a carefully planned scheme, conceived and approved at the highest echelons of its corporate offices, to keep nearly $1 billion in easy money that it knew was due."

ExxonMobil plans to appeal the "unjustified and excessive" decision to the Alabama Supreme Court, said Bob Davis, a spokesman for the oil company.
<snip>

[54anickel]

2. It is a tough call. Lower the award to keep it out of the appeals or go

for broke.

Agreeing to lower it makes it seem like they may as well have just settled out of court and saved the legal fees.
Should they risk loosing the appeal, it was a huge award? :shrug:

In the end, it looks like Exxon wins. Slap on the wrist, simply pay some money out, return to business as usual. If corporate personhood was true "personhood" someone would be going to jail.