The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a $112 million punitive damage award against Exxon Mobil over radioactive contamination at an industrial site in Louisiana. The world's largest oil company had unsuccessfully argued that the award exceeded constitutional limits on punitive damages.
The high court's refusal to overturn the massive verdict means that landowner Joseph Grefer and his siblings may keep the $146 million Exxon paid in 2006 to satisfy the judgment plus interest.
The Grefers claimed Exxon left them with a huge cleanup bill after a company Exxon hired polluted a 33-acre site near New Orleans with radioactive residue from an oil pipe-cleaning facility. The award covered cleanup costs and damages for the potential health problems suffered by neighbors and workers at the site.
