The Exxon Valdez Case and the Future of Punitive Damages

February 23, 2009 • 12:15 PM • Law School 3041

Professor Jeffrey Fisher, associate professor at Stanford Law School and co-director of its Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, will talk about his work on Exxon v. Baker, a case that grew out of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent opinion for punitive damages law. Fisher will discuss some of the challenges of litigating a case concerning an event that occurred almost 20 years ago and 4,000 miles away against the world's most profitable corporation. Fisher represented the class of more than 32,000 victims of the spill, including commercial fishermen, private landowners, and Alaska Natives before the Ninth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court; Duke Law Professor Walter Dellinger represented Exxon. Sponsored by the Alaska Law Review, Program in Public Law, Environmental Law Society, Business Law Society, and DBA.