US Supreme Court case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker
E682976
Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker is a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly limited punitive damages awarded against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, shaping modern maritime and punitive damages law.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| US Supreme Court case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7702819 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: US Supreme Court case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker Context triple: [Exxon Valdez oil spill, legalOutcome, US Supreme Court case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker]
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A.
Pennzoil v. Texaco lawsuit
The Pennzoil v. Texaco lawsuit was a landmark 1980s U.S. civil case in which Pennzoil won a multibillion-dollar judgment against Texaco over interference with its agreement to acquire Getty Oil, reshaping corporate merger practices and tort law.
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B.
Kivalina v. ExxonMobil
Kivalina v. ExxonMobil is a landmark U.S. climate change lawsuit in which an Alaskan village sued major energy companies for damages allegedly caused by global warming and resulting coastal erosion.
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C.
SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Co.
SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. is a landmark U.S. securities law case that broadly defined insider trading liability and the disclosure obligations of publicly traded companies under federal law.
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D.
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. is a landmark 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited the extraterritorial application of the Alien Tort Statute in human rights lawsuits against corporations for conduct occurring abroad.
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E.
Supreme Court case Yakus v. United States
Yakus v. United States is a 1944 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld wartime price controls and affirmed broad congressional delegation of authority to administrative agencies.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: US Supreme Court case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker Target entity description: Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker is a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly limited punitive damages awarded against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, shaping modern maritime and punitive damages law.
-
A.
Pennzoil v. Texaco lawsuit
The Pennzoil v. Texaco lawsuit was a landmark 1980s U.S. civil case in which Pennzoil won a multibillion-dollar judgment against Texaco over interference with its agreement to acquire Getty Oil, reshaping corporate merger practices and tort law.
-
B.
Kivalina v. ExxonMobil
Kivalina v. ExxonMobil is a landmark U.S. climate change lawsuit in which an Alaskan village sued major energy companies for damages allegedly caused by global warming and resulting coastal erosion.
-
C.
SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Co.
SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. is a landmark U.S. securities law case that broadly defined insider trading liability and the disclosure obligations of publicly traded companies under federal law.
-
D.
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. is a landmark 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited the extraterritorial application of the Alien Tort Statute in human rights lawsuits against corporations for conduct occurring abroad.
-
E.
Supreme Court case Yakus v. United States
Yakus v. United States is a 1944 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld wartime price controls and affirmed broad congressional delegation of authority to administrative agencies.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
ⓘ
maritime law case ⓘ punitive damages case ⓘ |
| affectedParty |
Alaska Native communities
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Exxon Mobil Corporation shareholders ⓘ commercial fishermen in Alaska ⓘ |
| appliesTo | federal maritime cases ⓘ |
| aroseFromDate | March 24, 1989 ⓘ |
| aroseFromEvent | Exxon Valdez oil spill NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| aroseFromLocation | Prince William Sound, Alaska NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| citation | 554 U.S. 471 ⓘ |
| concurrenceBy |
Justice John Paul Stevens
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| decisionDate | June 25, 2008 ⓘ |
| docketNumber | 07-219 ⓘ |
| doesNotRestOn | Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasCourt | Supreme Court of the United States NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasPetitioner | Exxon Shipping Company NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasRespondent |
Grant Baker
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
other commercial fishermen and private parties ⓘ |
| holding |
In maritime cases, punitive damages may not exceed compensatory damages in a 1:1 ratio absent exceptional circumstances defined by Congress
ⓘ
Punitive damages in this case were reduced to $507.5 million to match compensatory damages ⓘ The $2.5 billion punitive damages award against Exxon was excessive under federal maritime common law ⓘ |
| impact |
influenced later punitive damages jurisprudence in federal and state courts
ⓘ
significantly limited punitive damages exposure for maritime defendants ⓘ |
| issue |
Whether Exxon could be held vicariously liable for punitive damages based on the conduct of the ship’s captain
ⓘ
Whether federal maritime law imposes limits on punitive damages ⓘ Whether the punitive damages award against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez spill was excessive under maritime law ⓘ |
| joinedByInMajority |
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy NERFINISHED ⓘ Justice Antonin Scalia NERFINISHED ⓘ Justice Clarence Thomas NERFINISHED ⓘ Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. NERFINISHED ⓘ Justice Stephen G. Breyer NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | federal maritime jurisdiction ⓘ |
| legalArea |
federal common law
ⓘ
maritime law ⓘ punitive damages ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy | Justice David H. Souter NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| originatedFrom |
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
United States District Court for the District of Alaska NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedCase |
BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedEvent | Exxon Valdez grounding on Bligh Reef NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| restsOn | federal maritime common law authority of the Supreme Court ⓘ |
| result |
established a 1:1 ceiling on punitive-to-compensatory damages ratio in maritime cases under federal common law
ⓘ
punitive damages award substantially reduced ⓘ |
| ruledOn | vicarious corporate liability for punitive damages in maritime cases ⓘ |
| voteSplit | 5-3 on punitive damages ratio rule ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: US Supreme Court case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker Description of subject: Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker is a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly limited punitive damages awarded against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, shaping modern maritime and punitive damages law.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.