Anchorage Daily News

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco today rejected Exxon Mobil Corp.'s latest appeal in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill case and ordered the company to pay $2.5 billion in punitive damages.

"It is time for this protracted litigation to end," the court concluded.

The ruling seems to indicate the U.S. Supreme Court is the only venue left for either side in the epic civil case to appeal further.

Exxon in January petitioned the court to reconsider its December decision downsizing the amount of punitive damages the company owes for the oil spill.

A three-judge panel had ruled 2-1 that Exxon owed $2.5 billion to thousands of fishermen and other plaintiffs harmed by the spill. That’s a lot less than the original $5 billion a jury awarded in 1994.

Exxon has contended it owes no more than $25 million, having already laid out more than $3 billion for compensatory payments, the cleanup and settlement of state and federal claims.

Reporter Wesley Loy can be reached at wloy@adn.com or 257-4590.