After my prior post, I caught this breakdown at AmLawDaily:

The decision comes 19 years after the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound off Alaska. A jury in 1994 imposed $5 billion in punitive damages against what is today Exxon Mobil Corporation. Since then, the award has bounced back and forth between the district court in Alaska and the Ninth Circuit, which in 2007 cut the already-reduced $4.5 billion punitive award to $2.5 billion.

The Supreme Court’s ruling limits any award to no more than $507.5 million, which includes the $287 million in compensatory damages from the trial as well as other settlements. It also remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit for further consideration.

A final award would include 5.9 percent annual interest starting from late September 1996, bringing a maximum possible award today to about $995 million. More than 32,000 Alaskans stand to get a share of the award.

The lead firm, Davis Wright Tremaine, which put in the most time, tops out at $28 million, which doesn’t include costs.

Perhaps the Supreme Court would like to extend its boundless mercy to the "unpredictability" of representing the victims of willful, wanton and reckless conduct? Why not a due process rule requiring the defendant subsidize the plaintiffs’ appeal work — as it is performed, not decades later — until the defendant prevails on the merits?