Is it any surprise that all across Alaska plaintiffs are reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision reducing the punitive damages from the Exxon Valdez accident to about 500 million dollars for all plaintiffs to share? Lives and businesses were destroyed and plaintiffs get practically nothing.

Andrew Wills lost his fishing business when the herring population was destroyed. He borrowed money and opened a bed & breakfast, bookshop and cafe. He had looked forward to his share of the settlement which he thought would be $85, 000. He would pay off some debt.

“This decision is a giant cold slap in the face,” said Garland Blanchard, 59, a third-generation fisherman who said he lost his marriage along with his two fishing boats, house, cat and dog to financial pressures caused by the spill. Mr. Blanchard expects to receive less than $100,000 from the settlement, down from the $1.2 million he had previously expected.

“Our lives and businesses have been destroyed, and we get basically nothing,” he said. “It’s pathetic.”

Alicia Jensen of Cordova owns the Killer Whale Cafe in Cordova and says that the spill and legal battles have dominated conversations for over two decades. She said, “This has been the primary focus of this town for most of my life. I’m glad that its over, and everybody can get on with our lives.”

On Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-3 vote, slashed a punitive punishments award against Exxon Mobil from two and a half billion dollars to about 500 million dollars. It is no surprise that this decision was applauded by business and decried by Alaskans and environmentalists.

This means that victims of the spill who filed a claim may expect to collect an average of $15, 000 each. Under the 2.5 billion dollar judgement they would have collected an average of $75,000 each.

Osa Schultz of Cordova, Alaska, said she was “pretty disappointed” with the amount of the settlement. “On the other hand, I’m relieved they slapped Exxon in the face,” Schultz said, adding that a $15,000 award wouldn’t even begin to cover the losses to her and her husband’s gillnet fishing business.

Justice David Souter wrote for the court that punitive damages may not exceed what the company already paid to compensate victims for economic losses, $507.5 million, an amount equal to about four days worth of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s profits last quarter.

In an opinion dissenting from the Souter decision, Justice John Paul Stevens endorsed the $2.5 billion figure for punitive damages, pointing out that Congress has chosen not to impose restrictions in such circumstances.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also dissented, 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.

Exxon has been fighting to reduce or erase the punitive damages verdict by an Alaskan jury, a verdict reached because of the crash of the Exxon Valdez super tanker in 1989. That crash dumped eleven million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound fouling 1200 miles of coastline and leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of seabirds and other marine animals.