The Tory Way of Limiting the Ability of Plaintiffs to Recover Damages

Exxon was sued for the spill by Alaskan residents and others who depend on the area for their livelihoods. Exxon loses a trial and they are ordered to pay $5 billion in punitive damages. That amount gets lowered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to $2.5 billion. And here the Supreme Court held that even that was too much, lowering the damages to $500 million. In the process, they effectively capped the punitive damages available in maritime aka seafaring cases.