A federal judge has approved the start of what has been described as the final distribution of money from the Exxon Valdez case.
About $100 million will be paid to thousands of commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs in the case, with direct deposits to start by the end of this month and check mailings to begin by mid-December, says the Seattle law firm handling the Exxon Valdez money. The payout is expected to take several weeks.
This is the latest round of payments in what has been a lengthy process to dispense roughly $1 billion in winnings and interest generated through the civil suit brought after the 1989 oil spill.
This final distribution almost completes the process, though for various reasons it will take months or even years longer to dispose of the last dollar.
Here is the 895-page list showing how much each claimant can expect to receive in the coming weeks, before deduction of attorney fees.
Deckboss also recommends reading federal Judge H. Russel Holland's order approving the final distribution.
The judge tells a couple of persistent claimants still fighting to grab millions from the pool to just shut up and go away.
He also explains an unfortunate but apparently unavoidable situation in which some cannery workers won't get as much Exxon Valdez money as they should have, while others were overpaid.