On Oct. 9, the US Supreme Court declined to hear Chevron [6] corporation's bid to block global enforcement of a $19 billion judgment by a court in Ecuador, a victory for 30,000 rainforest dwellers who brought litigation over the pollution of their lands. Chevron had asked the high court to uphold an injunction imposed in March 2010 by US Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York that would have barred worldwide enforcement of Ecuador's judgment. That injunction was overturned [7] in January by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the oil company could challenge the Ecuadoran judgement "only defensively, in response to attempted enforcement," which the rainforest dwellers had not attempted and might never attempt in New York. The Supreme Court's rejection of the case lets the Second Circuit decision stand.
The Second Circuit also found that the US courts did not have authority to stop courts in other countries from enforcing the judgment. The plaintiffs, from the rainforest community of Lago Agrio, are currently trying to enforce the judgment in Canada and Brazil. In its appeal to the Supreme Court, Chevron said it was entitled to raise an anticipatory defense in US courts to preempt any enforcement efforts, calling it necessary in light of the "disturbing trend" in which lawyers win big money judgments against US companies in corrupt foreign courts, and then seek to enforce them in countries where the companies operate. "While Chevron is disappointed that the court denied our petition, we will continue to defend against the plaintiffs' lawyers' attempts to enforce the fraudulent Ecuadorean judgment, and to further expose their misconduct," Chevron said in a statement.
Chevron is pursuing a racketeering suit [8] against New York attorney Steven Donziger, a group of Ecuadorans and environmental groups that helped win the judgment, accusing them of intimidation and extortion. It has also challenged the judgment before an international arbitration panel under the trade agreement [9] between the US and Ecuador. The panel is scheduled to begin hearing the dispute in November. (Reuters [10], Oct. 12; Environmental News Service [11], Oct. 9)
Chevron was acquitted [12] in a similar US case concerning human rights abuses in Nigeria.
