After years of convoluted legal battles, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, US District Court, Southern District Of New York, released his decision in the Chevron Corp vs Stephen Donziger (aka Chevron vs Ecuador) case.
Chevron wins.
Even though it dumped toxic waste near a rain forest community in Ecuador with devastating consequences for the villagers who lived there, it has no liability.
Even though Ecuador’s judicial system awarded an $18 billion settlement (later reduced to $9 billion) to the villagers of Lago Agrio, Chevron doesn't have to pay a penny.
The case began years ago when Steven Donziger, a New York City lawyer, brought the suit to court in Ecuador on behalf of thousands of native people from the Orienté Amazon rain forest region. The suit sought damages from Chevron for the hundreds of deaths and extensive environmental damage caused by the oil drilling activities of Texaco, Inc. more than 20 years ago. Since the case began, Texaco was acquired by Chevron, which was eventually judged liable in the Ecuadorian courts and ordered to pay a multibillion dollar judgment.
Chevron and the villagers of Lago Agrio battled it out in courts from Argentina to Canada and in New York City where Chevron Corp. has its headquarters. Judge Kaplan’s 500 page decision rules that the settlement obtained in Ecuador was fraudulent and exempt from enforcement.
The case received attention five years ago when an award-winning documentary was made about it.
Scenes and outtakes from the documentary were used to build a case against Donziger who Chevron accused of bribery, fraud, and racketeering to obtain the settlement in Ecuador’s courts. Judge Kaplan agreed.
Kaplan wrote in his decision:
" – the Court finds that Donziger began his involvement in this controversy with a desire to improve conditions in the area in which his Ecuadorian clients live." |
No good deed goes unpunished.