Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce (or in the book, Jarndyce and Jarndyce) was the fictional center of Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House. It has become a catch-all phrase describing litigation that goes on...and on...and on.
For more than 10 years, Platts has been writing about the lawsuit filed -- and won -- by the state of Alaska against Exxon over the Exxon Valdez spill. The spill took place in 1989. We didn't have iPods then. Johnny Carson was still the host of Tonight. And on March 21, 1989, the day of the spill, Platts assessed Alaska North Slope crude at $17.80-$17.95/barrel. On May 24, 2007, we assessed it at $64.83-$64.90. A few things have changed, but the lawsuit lives on.
The big $5.1 billion judgement against Exxon was handed down in 1997. This week, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday turned down ExxonMobil Corp.'s request for a rehearing of its appeal of the verdict. And after the ruling, ExxonMobil said it was heading to the Supreme Court for another appeal. Supreme Court rulings that could be used to restrict punitive damages have been handed down since that 1997 judgement against Exxon --notably a pair of cases involving cigarette maker Philip Morris and insurance company State Farm. That has further confused the Valdez award; $5.1 billion on its face might be considered excessive when viewed through the prism of those rulings.
All of this has left the people of Alaska angry, as you can imagine, and their views are summed up in this editorial from the Anchorage Daily News.
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