Chevron's Pollution Victory Opens Door For Companies to Shirk Foreign Verdicts

摘要

Chevron wasn't the only winner in an Aug. 8 ruling by a federal appeals court over its long-running Ecuadorian pollution litigation. The victory, in which the court affirmed that the victims' lawyer engaged in wrongdoing to secure a $9.5 billion verdict in the South American country, could benefit other corporations seeking to avoid enforcement of foreign judgments they contend are based on corrupt proceedings. Or, if you're an anti-corporate activist, you can put it this way: "The decision hands well-heeled corporations a template for avoiding legal accountability anywhere in the world." That's the assessment of Deepak Gupta, the lawyer for Steven Donziger, a New York attorney who has been battling Chevron over pollution liability in Ecuador for decades.