Erroneous act of the Supreme Court in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker

Sign the Petition : 666 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

My name is Kellie Kvasnikoff. I was a commercial fisherman forced into a career change by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. I am now the Chief Information Technology Officer for the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe. In 2006 I published a book on the oil spill entitled “Exxon Valdez 18 Years and Counting”. In that book I said that “justice” for the Exxon Valdez-impacted fishermen should be spelled “Just Us.” The law did not help us in our time of need. It hindered us. The law went any way Exxon wished to pull it.
This latest Supreme Court decision on “punitive damages” (Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker) is more of the same. It is a travesty. It is filled with errors. Bad facts, bad law.
Please consider this a petition to open an investigation immediately and without delay into the wrongdoings of the Exxon Shipping Company and specifically the erroneous act of the Supreme Court in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker. I note that Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his dissent, “Congress is far better situated that is this court to assess the empirical data, and to balance competing policy interest, before making such a choice.” Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer also dissented. Ginsburg wrote: “The new law made by the court should have been left to Congress.”
I hope you will look into and call witnesses on all aspects of this Exxon case: Can you fix maritime law so that it does not wrong-doers? Where does this business of “caps” on punitives come from? How does this Supreme Court calculate the “compensatory damages” that are supposed to figure in the outcome? Did anybody count the natural resource damages “reopener” monies that haven’t even been collected yet and should go to compensate Alaskan natives for cultural damage? And what about the ethics of allowing the Seattle Seven to deal away secretly with Exxon 11% of the original punitive award?
We, the undersigned, request that our elected representatives act in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of America in a legal and expedient manner for an open hearing before the people of the United States and your Congressional law-making bodies. Please leave no stone unturned in exploring this travesty of justice and the particulars of how and why it happened.
In the end, we hope you will be moved yourselves to reinstate the $5 billion award that the jury saw fit to impose. This destruction of an economic asset created by the U.S. jury system should not be undone so cavalierly. While Exxon made it happen, the U.S. let it happen.
We feel it is our patriotic duty to request such action from you, our elected officials, and your duty to respond in a responsible manner.

Sincerely,		Erroneous act of the Supreme Court in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker

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People signing the "Erroneous act of the Supreme Court in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker" petition!

  1. Mon., May. 4, 2009 3:11 PM    link C J. | Soldotna, AK

  2. Sun., Apr. 26, 2009 5:01 PM    link Name not displayed | Auburn, CA

    And in 2009 the suffering continues even as Exxon Mobile posted record profits for 2008. Restore the original award and stop changing the decision of the jury. Disgusting. Pathetic. Inhuman.

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  4. Wed., Mar. 25, 2009 3:15 PM    link G. P. | Plattsburgh, NY

    As a college student researching this environmental disaster I found the most interesting part of my research not to be the scientific studies, but the sense of environmental justice it brought to the Alaskan natives and how the legal system faultered again.

  5. This comment has been reported to the site manager. It will be reviewed and removed if inappropriate. Thank you!

  6. Wed., Mar. 25, 2009 11:07 AM    link Name not displayed | Topeka, KS

    It disgusts me that ONCE AGAIN the rich oil companies make out like bandits after totally destroying a key ecosystem on which many people and livelihoods so depended. That ecosystem has yet to recover.

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  8. Sun., Feb. 22, 2009 6:24 PM    link Name not displayed | Ardmore, PA

  9. Tue., Jan. 13, 2009 9:10 PM    link Name not displayed | Fort Worth, TX

    ToHELLLLLLL!!! with exxon and all the other low life oil companies, solar and wind is here use it. The U.S. gov.will make it too exspensive to use. The gov. was formed to work for the people what a joke.

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  11. Wed., Jan. 7, 2009 2:55 PM    link David L. | Hood River, OR

    Please make this one of the first actions of the New Congress. The people of Cordova need HOPE!!!

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  13. Fri., Dec. 12, 2008 2:46 PM    link terry j. | Garden, MI

  14. Thu., Dec. 4, 2008 2:33 PM    link Name not displayed | Soldotna, AK

  15. Tue., Dec. 2, 2008 1:48 PM    link Name not displayed | West Caldwell, NJ

    I find a very scary parallel between the court's ruling & Sarah Palin's VP nomination. I'm surprised & saddened that this was not explored further in the campaign.

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  17. Wed., Oct. 15, 2008 9:33 PM    link Name not displayed | Seattle, WA

    As one of many fisherman impacted by the oil spill. And having never recieved a penny in compensation, I would like to know how the Justices could say we have been compensated already. This has been an ongoing legal tragedy. EXXON is the poster child for corporate greed and Government manipulation.

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  19. Wed., Oct. 15, 2008 6:35 PM    link Name not displayed | Cordova, AK

    Cordova, Alaska

    Exxon says they have paid more than what they should have for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. I truly believe there is not enough money to settle the damage that was done by them. I can still go for a short boat ride to any beach or cove near Cordova or Valdez and with a shovel dig a few shovel fulls down before I uncover rocks and sediment that are still coated with crude oil that will blacken your hands. I would like to see their faces to actually touch crude oil on our beaches and try to tell me that they cleaned it all up. We live here and we know the truth and Exxon will pay for what they have done. It may not be financially but good ol karma.

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  21. Thu., Oct. 9, 2008 5:29 PM    link Nina R. | Snohomish, WA

  22. Thu., Aug. 21, 2008 7:07 PM    link Darrell L. | Blaine, WA

    I was a commercial fisherman in Prince William Sound for over 20 years. I sunk my boat in 1983 in the Gulf of Alaska. (no loss of life). In 1987 I accepted a position with ARCO Marine hauling oil from Valdez, Alaska to points south on their Tankers. I had been working for ARCO for 2 years when the Exxon Valdez hit Bligh Reef. My Quick story ia this: Every time we left Valdez with oil, 75% of the crew was either drunk or High. You could not walk the Passageways of these Ships without smelling POT. I was on the ARCO Spirit. It carried 2 million barrels of oil. It took around 24 hours to fill this Ship. I along with many of my crew mates worked 4 hours on and 8 hours off. WE never slept during that time. we would stand our watch for 4 hours then call a cab and drink untill we had to go back on watch then work for 4 hours and then call a cab and go back to town and drink as much as we could untill the Ship sailed. I have many stories to tell but this is it for now.

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  24. Fri., Aug. 15, 2008 12:21 PM    link jerre w. | homer, AK

    I know that there was some wrongdoing in the Supreme Courts decision, and that if investigated, it will be found. Please don't allow giant corporations be exempt from being responcible for their blatant disregard for our environment. Exxon should have to pay a minimum of 5 billion in punitive damages, otherwise they won't care if they do repeat performances because they will only get a slap on their little finger.

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  26. Fri., Aug. 15, 2008 6:49 AM    link sharon s. | Chesterbrook, PA

    Congress: The abuse of power at the Supreme Court Level is gaining momentum;
    " If the policy of the government upon vital questions ,affecting the whole people,is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court," Abraham Lincoln argued in his first inaugural address,"the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal."
    On Exxon Valdez v Baker Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noticed this, saying the court was engaging in "lawmaking" by concluding that punitive damages may not exceed what the company already paid to compensate victims for economic losses.
    "The new law made by the court should have been left to Congress," Justice Ginsburg wrote. Justice Stephen Breyer made a similar point, opposing a rigid 1 to 1 ratio of punitive damages to victim compensation.
    In this case Souter,Roberts,Scalia,Thomas and Kennedy couldn't possibly have ingested the facts or the amicus briefs supporting the plaintiffs, in particuliar the 34 states ( via their attorney generals) who in their brief contend-
    "Federal courts in maritime cases tend to follow the general state common law of tort when there is no uniquely maritime aspect of the case. Nearly all of the 48 States that allow punitive damages follow one of two approaches to vicarious liability for punitive damages; Exxon's proposed test differs markedly from both approaches, is substantially narrower than either, and is in substance a rule of corporate immunity that would threaten to undermine the States' ability to deter and punish reckless misconduct through incremental common law-making."
    It is clear that the Supreme Court ignored years and volumes of evidence supporting Exxon's misconduct and most importantly citizens represented by their elected officials.

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  28. Wed., Aug. 13, 2008 1:25 PM    link Tracy D. | Edmonds, WA

    I am Tracy Dyckhoff. I was introduced into Commercial Fishing, Alaskan waters, by my oldest of ten siblings, in 1984. My four oldest brothers were ALL Alaskan Commercial Fishermen, that worked for pioneers of the industry. After 2 diligent years of learning the ropes, I decided I wanted to be like my brothers, and stay with it. I have been fishing for the last 21 years. It IS my livelyhood, to this day. It was always a dream of mine to be a captain, and also own a fishing vessel, someday. As a young deckhand, I was very naive to believe that our canneries, politicians, and special interest groups would take care of the marketing, economic, regulatory, and ecological decisions that would support small vessel operators and their communities, for enhancement of community and personal growth, not only for Alaskans, but more importantly for young entrapaneurs, from across the Pacific Northwest regions. In the last 15 years, I have fished the Bering Sea on owner/operator crab catcher vessels. I even fished on the Processor owned Cod/Pollock vessels. I was there long enough to see the writing on the wall, as far as transfer price fixing and the higher powers that follow, with the manipulation of prices to a fisherman. So, my aspirations to one day own a vessel have been dramatically reduced over the culmination of my career. It was always my dream to own my own boat. I love the ocean. It is all that I know how to do. In 1989, I was with my oldest brother,he was captain. We were crossing the Gulf of Alaska, in Mid-May. We got a report of a storm coming our way, so we changed course for Seward, Alaska. As morning broke on the horizon, we found ourselves forty miles Southwest of Montague Island. All we could see, that whole day, was bubbles coming up from the ocean. It continued for more than 100 miles. My brother had sailed the Alaskan Peninsula and Bering Sea waters, since the 60's. I asked him what it was. He said, he had never seen nothing like it, ever. Then we thought of the oil spill. We wondered, could it be?...I have fished salmon,crab,halibut,cod,pollock on the Alaskan Peninsula and Bering Sea, my whole career. A year before the Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill, our canneries paid $2.85 Lb. for our sockeye salmon delivered. Our markets were open to cash buyers and canneries alike. Free enterprising companies and vessels, which kept every one in check. Hence a fair market. After the Oil Spill, Exxon settled out of court for $40 Million with the major canneries that processed Alaskan fish. They were all from Seattle, Washington. Two of those Major Canneries had a strong presence, with shoreside operations in our villages of Sand Point and King Cove, Alaska. After these companies settled with Exxon/Mobil Inc., the following summer, our sockeye prices dropped to a meer .55 cents Lb.....They blamed it on farmed fish competition and product glut within the markets...What I think really happened, was that, by these canneries being allowed to settle separately from the fishermen/women of the State of Alaska, it gave them all the cushion they needed to wait and cultivate a dependecy of the villages and small vessel fishermen. Also, with precise financial support of political figures via cannery special interest, Senators like Ted Stevens and his son, Ben, Don Young, and State elected officials, who, by the way, are all being federally indicted, aimed toward privatization of the resources, halibut, Pollock/cod and Crab. This being done in the name of safety is pure B.S.....I have spent more than 3000 days at sea, and seen the worst of those days, like black monday in '95 jogging on anchor behind the Pribilof Islands in 120-150 knot winds. In my recollection, it was the Non-Prudent mariners, with a non skilled crew who often parished....Education Pays!....People all across the Northwest and Alaska have been affected by Big Business. These decisions of privatization or Rationalization, have helped pad the pockets of those already affluent. How do I Know, you might ask?....Because I have worked for them, and have come to know what they really are!....I WANT my open market back! I want my FAIR OPPORTUNITY to excel and become successfull like the fishermen before me....I have been Denied this by some Heavy back scratchin' that has been going on for YEARS and YEARS!!!....Where is my future? WE NEED SOME DILIGENT PROCUREMENT in AMERICA.....You want me to fly my flag....GIVE me something to be proud of.......I'm not proud of what has happened to me....and definitely NOT Confident in OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM ANYMORE!!!....Signed Tracy John Dyckhoff, Alaskan Commercial Fisherman/Prudent Mariner 21 years and counting...

    P.S. My oldest brother, I mentioned, fought in the Vietnam war in 1968. He was a sergeant on the front lines during the Tet-Offensive...3rd Infantry, 99th Division. Metal of Valor recipient more than a few times.......What are we all fightin' for?

  29. This comment has been reported to the site manager. It will be reviewed and removed if inappropriate. Thank you!

  30. Wed., Aug. 13, 2008 12:02 PM    link William s. | Kenai, AK

    This countries founders gave serious and considerate thought and words to promote and to preserve the will and the welfare of the people of this nation. Over time these ideals have been diluted to the point that it is now essentially the will and the welfare of those in possession of the power and the M-O-N-E-Y that commands essential interests. While I am not so naive as to suggest that this shift has recently occurred, it is incumbent upon you all, as elected representatives of the people of this nation, and as the supposed leaders of the government of this nation, to demand, at all costs, including your own, that our country pursues a path that will allow for the evolution of our society that surpasses and subdues simplistic and primitive need for gross imbalances of power and money.

    This is not some sort of candy land, flower power ideology. It will in fact determine the survival of our country and the ideals which promoted its conception.

    Eighteen years of litigation, the tolerance and the facilitation of Exxon playing fast and loose with law and ideology which the common man is held to, the Supreme Court's abuse enabled by a system of "justice" that has lost the meaning of accountability when confronted by power and money, and the willingness of our elected "leaders" to look the other way while 30+ thousand common people are trifled with and violated must stop.

    We teach our children one set of values, with a greed for money and power we enable quite another.
    Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker is a criminal example of the worst of America !

    For the sake of this great nation and for its citizens yet born, please demand due consideration of its citizens in all respects. Industry, big money and corrupt power will always take care of itself. For years if not centuries oppressed people living on the European continent dreamed and fought for a better and more deserving existence. We must do the same. You must do the same, as will always be the yoke of a truly free and evolving humankind.

  31. This comment has been reported to the site manager. It will be reviewed and removed if inappropriate. Thank you!

  32. Wed., Aug. 13, 2008 10:25 AM    link William S. | Soldotna, AK

  33. Wed., Aug. 13, 2008 9:36 AM    link Brian O. | Kansas City, MO

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