Last week, in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Grant Baker, et. al., the Supreme Court gave the defendants, Exxon, a huge victory. It reduced a $2.5 punitive damages award-the largest ever awarded in a federal court-to $507 million. In this column, I will examine the lessons we can draw from the Court's decision. The real import of the decision, I shall argue, may not lie in what the Court said, but rather in the peculiar voting bloc of Justices that produced the ruling in favor of Exxon. ... ...
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