Chevron Ecuador Case | The Chevron Ecuador Lawsuit Trial & Chevron's Views & Opinions | The Amazon Post

The Washington Times editorializes on the Chevron Ecuador case:

The State Department has done little to help an American corporation battered by a bogus multibillion dollar lawsuit filed in a foreign country. Fortunately, the Obama administration’s leadership void was filled Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who issued an injunction barring any collection efforts against Chevron Corp. by Ecuador.

The plaintiffs allege that Texaco (which Chevron bought in 2001) left behind an environmental mess when it stopped drilling in the South American country in 1992. A previous Ecuadorian government pronounced the sites entirely clean in 1998, but the administration of President Rafael Correa ramped up for the suit when it took office in 2007. Judge Kaplan didn’t buy it, writing, “There is abundant evidence before the court that Ecuador has not provided impartial tribunals or procedures compatible with due process of law.”

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Reuters reports on Chevron’s appeal of the Ecuador judgment. This article also says that “few analysts believe the company will pay anything soon:”

Chevron has denied the accusations and had previously said it would appeal the judgment, seen as a test
case the oil industry is tracking for precedents for other large environmental rulings.

The 192-page appeal filed late on Wednesday with the Sucumbios provincial court in the town of Lago Agrio calls for the ruling to be annulled for failures in due process, procedural fraud and other faults, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

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Foreign Policy writes about the Chevron Ecuador case, discussing how misconduct of the plaintiffs’ lawyers and political interference in the Ecuadorian court renders the judgment unenforceable:

Yet for all the hoopla surrounding the case, it is unlikely that the plaintiffs will receive one cent from the judgment. It’s not just that Chevron owns no assets in Ecuador, but that no responsible court anywhere in the world is likely to support seizing Chevron assets based on a verdict tainted by such flagrant political interference, judicial and plaintiff misconduct, and double standards of justice. (This week, a federal judge in New York extended a temporary order banning any collection of the judgment.)

Particularly damaging to any sense of due process in the case has been the actions of the Correa government. According to Investor’s Business Daily, not only have “the plaintiffs been repeatedly caught in embarrassing acts of fraud and collusion with the Ecuadorean government and its courts,” but, “It’s been so bad — an Ecuadorean judge was caught on candid camera telling plaintiffs the fix was in on his future ruling, and an ‘independent assessor’ was caught on film outtakes colluding with plaintiffs — that the entire court system is clearly compromised.”

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More coverage of yesterday’s Chevron Ecuador ruling which, according to the New York judge, “had been tainted by fraud and corruption:”

Chevron Corp. has won a key bid barring Ecuadorean residents from enforcing an multibillion-dollar judgment an Ecuadorean court ordered it to pay, the Wall Street Journal reports. The court in Ecuador last month ordered Chevron to pay $8 billion for alleged oil contamination there.

The new U.S. ruling, by a federal judge in Manhattan, means citizens in Ecuador that are suing Chevron will be unable to seize the oil giant’s assets in enforcing the judgment.

The judge said that Chevron had presented sufficient evidence that the Ecuador trial had been tainted by fraud and corruption.

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More coverage of the court ruling which blocks enforcement of the judgment that the plaintiffs’ lawyers have procured through fraud and corruption. The New York Times cites the judge’s ruling which discusses corruption in the Ecuador court system:

Chevron Corp. scored a major legal victory last night when a federal judge ruled that plaintiffs who won an $8.6 billion judgment for pollution in Ecuador cannot seek to collect damages in the United States or in other countries.  …

The legal system in Ecuador has been corrupt for years, but “the situation has worsened” since leftist President Rafael Correa took office in 2007, Kaplan added.

Correa “continues to threaten and pressure judges at all levels, particularly those hearing suits that implicate government interests,” he wrote.

Kaplan also noted evidence that the plaintiffs sought to use “pressure tactics” to influence the judge in Ecuador and helped prepare an independent expert’s report that was introduced as evidence in the case.

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A judge in New York has just prohibited enforcement of the Chevron Ecuador judgment. Today’s ruling cites misconduct by the plaintiffs’ legal team and follows a February 8, 2011 temporary restraining order against the plaintiffs that prevented them from enforcing the Ecuador judgment:

Note: Judge Kaplan’s order is available to read here.

NEW YORK—A U.S. judge late Monday issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of a $8.6 billion judgment against Chevron Corp. over environmental damage in Ecuador’s Amazon region.

The ruling is the latest development in an 18-year legal fight over alleged environmental damage in Ecuador’s rain forest by Texaco Inc., which Chevron acquired in 2001. In February, a judge in Ecuador ordered Chevron to pay $8.6 billion to clean up oil pollution there. The award is believed to be the largest-ever judgment in an environmental case.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan issued the injunction barring enforcement outside of Ecuador as part of a civil racketeering lawsuit filed by Chevron in the U.S. against the Ecuadorean plaintiff’s lawyers. Chevron has alleged they have tried to extort and defraud the company.

“The evidence establishes that the (Lago Agrio plaintiffs) and their allies intend quickly to pursue multiple enforcement actions and asset seizures, including ex parte remedies where possible, around the globe. Absent a preliminary injunction, Chevron would be forced to defend itself and litigate the enforceability of the Ecuadorian judgment in multiple proceedings,” Judge Kaplan said.

“There is a significant risk that assets would be seized or attached, thus disrupting Chevron’s supply chain, causing it to miss critical deliveries to business partners, damaging ‘Chevron’s business reputation as a reliable supplier and harm the valuable customer goodwill Chevron has developed over the past 130 years,’ and causing injury to Chevron’s ‘business reputation and business relationships.’”

The environmental-damages case, known as the Lago Agrio case, was originally brought in federal court in Manhattan in 1993, but the court found the case should be heard in Ecuador. The indigenous groups brought their suit in Ecuador in 2003.

Much of Chevron’s argument has focused on allegations that the Ecuadorean legal system is stacked against Chevron and allegations of fraud and misconduct by Steven Donziger, the U.S. legal adviser to the Ecuadorean plaintiffs, and others.

The judge noted that much of the evidence of “possible misconduct” by Mr. Donziger and others consists of video recordings related to “Crude: The Real Price of Oil,” a documentary on the legal fight.

“Neither Donziger nor any of the other key actors has denied Chevron’s allegations or attempted here to explain or justify under oath their recorded statements and written admissions,” the judge said.

A lawyer for Mr. Donziger didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703883504576187112117241784.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

This letter in The Economist says, “facts and the basic rule of law demonstrate that Chevron is the victim” :

SIR – Your article regarding the recent fine imposed on Chevron by a court in Ecuador in a long-running environmental lawsuit seemed to suggest there is some doubt about which party is being mistreated (“Monster or victim?”, February 19th). A quick review of the case shows that Chevron has been subjected to a flawed process that has been condemned by multiple courts. Consider the following: Texaco Petroleum Company (TexPet), which Chevron later bought, was a minority owner, holding 37.5% of the oil consortium being sued in the case; the largest shareholder was Petroecuador, Ecuador’s state-run oil company.

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This blogger writes about lead Chevron Ecuador plaintiffs’ lawyer Steven Donziger:

There are reports that Steve Donziger, the now famous plaintiffs lawyer in the Chevron Ecuador case – yeah, the same one who took a back seat to new lawyers led by the Patton Boggs firm – is striking back at U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, saying that Kaplan was biased against Chevron and that is why the New York Judge ruled to block collection of any damage award from an Ecuador court trial that many knew was fixed in Ecuador’s favor to start with.   In the process Steve is essentially proving what Kaplan has charged Donziger with doing in Ecuador: namely working to bully the courts.

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