08/19/08
Talk of Settlement Reflects Dwindling Legal Options After Court Expert Finds Damages in Billions
Quito, Ecuador (August 18) – Chevron's surprise announcement on Friday that it would be open to talks to resolve a possible $16.3 billion liability for environmental damage in Ecuador reflects the company's dwindling legal options in a long-running lawsuit over who pays for the clean-up of what even Chevron now acknowledges is a huge disaster.
It also reflects how boxed in Chevron has become by a series of questionable legal and operational decisions made years ago by Texaco, a company Chevron bought in 2001 eight years after the Ecuador case had been filed in U.S. federal court. Even though it had never operated in Ecuador, Chevron has assumed defense of the case and will bear any liability.
Chevron voluntarily subjected itself to jurisdiction in Ecuador in 2002 as a condition of the case being transferred out of the U.S. court, and is likely bound by any ruling there.
Chevron's statement on Friday – that it would be open to "a fair and complete resolution" to the Ecuador lawsuit if Ecuador's government also meets certain conditions – was a marked departure from previous statements made by company management that rejected all possibility of an out-of-court settlement. It came after Ecuador's President, Rafael Correa, said in a speech that the government would be willing to mediate talks between the Amazon plaintiffs and Chevron.
Correa said Chevron had approached his government about trying to resolve the case, which went to trial in 2003 in the town of Lago Agrio in Ecuador's Amazon region. .
Representatives of the 30,000 Amazon plaintiffs said they welcomed Chevron's statement but said they were fully focused on the actual trial, which is expected to result in a judgment in 2009. A court-appointed Special Master recently fixed damages at between $7.2 billion and $16.3 billion.
Although Chevron claims it is the victim of an unfair judicial process – a charge disputed by the plaintiffs, who blame the company for years of delays and political interference in the trial -- there is much more to Chevron's problems in the Ecuador case than the company has let on publicly. For example:
- The evidence more...
08/13/08
08/11/08
Attorneys and journalists on both sides debate the case against Chevron in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Isabel Ordonez, Dow Jones Newswires. Steven Donziger, plaintiff attorney advisor. Silvia Garrigo, attorney for Chevron. Kelly Hearn, for The Washington Times.
08/06/08
According to Newsweek, Chevron is urging the Bush administration to yank special trade preferences for Ecuador. "Democracy Now!" Story
08/01/08
Lawsuit’s Plaintiffs Claim Oil Giant Avoiding Full Disclosure
07/19/08
Company’s Bungled Legal Strategy Created Much of Scientific Proof Used Against it by Independent Court Expert
07/10/08
Resolution Criticizes Chevron’s Profiteering in Iraq, Nigeria Slayings and Ecuador Disaster San Francisco (June 4, 2008)
07/04/08
Chevron’s Victims from Burma, Ecuador and Nigeria Confront CEO David O’Reilly at Shareholder Meeting San Ramon, California (Amazon Watch, May 28)
04/22/08
Chevron's PR offensive against two of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize winners shows the degree to which senior management at the San Ramon-based oil major has lost its way
04/15/08
Goldman environmental prize winners Pablo Fajardo and Luis Yanza sent this letter to Chevron CEO David O’Reilly, asking him to correct assertions made by Chevron Vice President and General Counsel Charles A. James in an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday, April 15, 2008
