Poder 360 – European Union Wants Deal with Ecuador
DATE: Fri, Mar. 19, 2010 POSTED IN: Ecuador News
Foreign Relations Minister Ricardo Patino said the European Union still wishes to resume trade agreement negotiations with Ecuador
Human Events – Ecuador’s $27 Billion Shakedown of Chevron
DATE: Wed, Mar. 17, 2010 POSTED IN: Chevron Ecuador Trial In The News
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s $27 billion environmenal lawsuit against Chevron has all the characteristics of a corrupt banana republic:
Judicial intimidation, bribery and bogus studies by paid-off experts.
In the long-running, government-backed suit against the giant American oil company, which vows it will never give in to what it calls a “shakedown” by the government and its political cronies, Chevron rejects that it is liable for any claims of environmental damage in the country’s Amazon region.
Financial Times – Habeas corporation
DATE: Tue, Mar. 16, 2010 POSTED IN: Chevron Ecuador Trial In The News
Asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously explained: “Because that’s where the money is.” American attorneys working on a contingency basis have long embraced similar logic when suing corporations on their clients’ behalf. But even in the hyperlitigious US, companies are able to defend themselves against frivolous claims. That is not always the case in the developing world, which is why multinationals are cheering a recent US legal ruling.
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas – Ecuador’s president urges media be accountable to citizens
DATE: Mon, Mar. 15, 2010 POSTED IN: Ecuador News
President Rafael Correa partially vetoed a proposed Citizen Participation Law and suggested a measure that would permit citizens to request accountability from the media once a year, similar to that of public enterprises, reportó El Tiempo reports.
For Correa, media are a public service and should be accountable to the population, El Universo adds.
San Francisco Chronicle – Chevron wins bid for Ecuador arbitration
DATE: Fri, Mar. 12, 2010 POSTED IN: Chevron Ecuador Trial In The News
Chevron Corp. won a round Thursday in the long legal fight over oil-field contamination in Ecuador, with a U.S. judge ruling that the company can pursue arbitration in the case.
But the final outcome of the fight, which could cost Chevron $27.3 billion, remains very much in doubt.
Associated Press – NYC judge allows Chevron arbitration to proceed
DATE: Fri, Mar. 12, 2010 POSTED IN: Chevron Ecuador Trial In The News
A judge ruled Thursday that Chevron can proceed with an international arbitration claim against Ecuador related to a 17-year-old court battle over rain forest contamination in that South American nation.
U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand in Manhattan rejected an attempt by Ecuador to block the arbitration but also said his decision was limited in scope and left the arbitration panel to decide what, if anything, it will hear and when.
San Francisco Chronicle blog – Chevron Ecuador issue: Chevron wins court victory against Ecuador
DATE: Fri, Mar. 12, 2010 POSTED IN: Chevron Ecuador Trial In The News
In the ongoing court battle between Chevron and the Country of Ecuador, Chevron won a court victory against Ecuador today. According to Reuters, A U.S. District Court Judge in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, granted Chevron the right to pursue an order to have via Ecuador to complete environmental cleanup work it and the state-run Petroecuador Oil Company were to have done when it took over oil production from Chevron-Texaco in 1992. Chevron will seek to have this done under the “U.S. – Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty.”
Corporate Counsel – KEEP That Home Court: Chevron Gets Forum Shopper’s Remorse
DATE: Fri, Mar. 12, 2010 POSTED IN: Chevron Ecuador Trial In The News
Judge Juan NÚñez was getting up to leave the Holiday Inn conference room in Quito, Ecuador. It was June 5, 2009, and he was meeting with an American who wanted information.
Specifically, Wayne Hansen wanted to know if Núñez was going to hold Chevron Corporation liable for $27 billion for polluting the Amazon Basin. Hansen was posing as a contractor who stood to receive large sums for cleaning up the jungle. The judge probably did not know that Hansen had once been convicted of conspiring to sell 137 tons of marijuana.
He certainly did not know that Hansen was capturing their conversation with a Spy Pen video camera, which retails online for $149.99.