Business Notes

The mammoth slick that oozed out of the Exxon Valdez tanker into Alaska's Prince William Sound two years ago may have been tough on otters and seagulls, but it was black gold for the legal profession. The 1989 disaster generated more than 300 lawsuits. Last week the largest was settled barely a month before it was due to go to trial, as Exxon reached an agreement with Alaska and the U.S. The cost: a guilty plea to three criminal charges that the company negligently discharged crude oil into navigable waters and killed migratory wildlife, and fines that may eventually total $1.1 billion.

Thus Exxon's oil slick, which holds the North American record for volume (11 million gal.), cleanup costs ($2.5 billion) and bad publicity, has now set a new high mark for penalty payouts -- almost 40 times as great as any previous spill. Nonetheless, one critic denounced the settlement as an inadequate "back-room deal," while company chairman Lawrence G. Rawl declared that it "will not have a noticeable effect" on Exxon's financial results. But Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said it "sends a very important signal that there are criminal consequences for this kind of activity."