Alaska Sport Fishing Association Allen Tigert Joseph Klouda William E. Simmons Zenas "Ed" Zeine v. Exxon Corporation

Alaska Sportfishing Association and four individual sportfishers (hereinafter “plaintiffs” or “sportfishers”) appeal the dismissal of their class action complaint against Exxon Corporation, et al., seeking damages for loss of use and enjoyment of natural resources resulting from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The district court held that the doctrine of res judicata barred the sportfishers from pursuing public loss of use claims because a Consent Decree entered into by the state of Alaska, the United States government, and Exxon had settled all such public claims. The court also dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims on the ground that they had failed to allege private, individual injuries and thus, had failed to state a claim for relief. We affirm.

I.

Plaintiffs filed this action in June 1989 in Alaska Superior Court on behalf of a class of an estimated 130,000 recreational sportfish-ers who used Prince William Sound and other areas affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The action sought injunctive relief and monetary damages “to provide for an environmental mitigation and monitoring fund.” Alaska Sportfishing Ass’n v. Alyeska Pipeline Serv., No. 3AN-89-5188 (Alaska…