From an Alaskan reader in response to my earlier post:

Hi Jonah
A favorite of those of us working for Exxon on the Valdez spill claims was the Cordova liquor store owner who made a claim for an injured back. It seems what with all the cleanup workers demanding more booze business was way up. At the same time, all the local labor types were out making the big bucks on the cleanup. This poor lady had to carry the liquor boxes herself and hurt her back . . . so of course Exxon should pay.
I worked on two of the three compensatory damages cases and in both instances the plaintiff municipalities and Native corporations got zero judgements after offset of payments already made. The third trial only had a paltry (and questionable) $20 million award after offsets. The bottom line is that Exxon had paid everything–much of it right away–before the trials. The decades of wrangling were over punitive damages, not compensation for injuries. This is lost on the press and even many who should know better. For example, the Wall Street Journal today quoted a law professor as saying the $20B escrow fund would look good to claimants compared to the years of litigation in the Exxon case. One doesn’t have to be a law professor to surmise that punitive damages won’t be paid out of the fund. The lure of huge punitive damages will ensure that the litigation will go on and the howls of pain orchestrated and amplified by trial lawyers will be heard for years.
That’s not to exonerate BP. Because of their control of the Alaska pipeline, BP was indirectly part of much of the proceedings. Exxon people spoke of them with disdain–corner cutters. But that’s another story.

On the issue of B.P. being “corner-cutters,” I’ve been hearing that sort of thing from a few folks up North.