Exxon faces big interest charges for 'bad-faith' legal tactics

$25 billion and what to do? Let's fuck our dealers!

Exxon Mobil Corp. acted in bad faith to delay paying $1-billion owed to gas station owners who sued the company and faces almost 24 per cent interest on that amount if it continues to "misuse the judicial process," a U.S. judge has ruled.

Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, "knowingly and recklessly" filed "frivolous and bad-faith" defences to about 9,000 claims in the class-action suit to stall payment, U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ruled in Miami this week. A 201 jury award of $500-million in damages to the station owners has doubled with interest.

"Exxon has in bad faith attempted to make a 'judicial train wreck' of the claims administration process," Judge Gold said in his ruling. "Sanctions are warranted because of Exxon's scheme to deliberately misuse the judicial process to chill the class dealers' legitimate claims."

This on the heels of Exxon's CEO's $25 billion in windfall profit.