Ecuador's National Court of Justice on Nov. 13 ordered [4] the Chevron [5] company to pay $9.51 billion in fines and legal fees. This was a significant reduction [6] from the previous $18 billion judgment. The lawsuit, brought by the Amazon Defense Front [7], arises out of Chevron's drilling for oil in Ecuador* and the resulting pollution in the rainforest. The original judgment was handed down [8] in 2011, but Chevron has been appealing since and has also removed its presence in Ecuador. Chevron won an arbitration [9] to the Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration [10] (PCA) which stated Chevron was released from pollution liability a full four years before the lawsuit was filed. Chevron continues to allege fraud and corruption [11] resulted in the judgment and has an ongoing lawsuit (PDF [12]) against Ecuadoran plaintiffs and their lawyer for racketeering. However, other groups argue [7] that Chevron's negligent practices caused immense damage from pollution and is simply attempting to avoid any judgment.
There are several ongoing lawsuits resulting from this matter. Last June Ecuador filed a lawsuit [13] against Chevron in Canada. That February the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios rejected [14] an arbitration decision by The PCA which had the effect of temporarily enjoining the $18.2 billion judgment that was upheld in January after an appeal [15] until a final judgment was made by the PCA. A month earlier, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [16] in New York reversed [17] the injunction against enforcement of the multi-billion judgment granted to Chevron by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [18] reasoning that judgment-debtors like Chevron can challenge a foreign judgment's validity under the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act (PDF [19]) only defensively and in response to an attempted enforcement which was not initiated by the plaintiffs.
From Jurist [20], Nov. 13. Used with permission.
* The drilling was actually carried out by Texaco [21], which Chevron acquired in 2001.
