Amazon Defense Coalition: In Critical Ruling, Chevron Hit Hard By Federal Appellate Court

Judge Kaplan Ordered To Dismiss Chevron Case Against Ecuador

NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. representatives for the Ecuadorians, who recently won an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador against Chevron for massive contamination, issued the following statements today about the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, dismissing a lower court ruling that sought to prevent enforcement of the Ecuador judgment.

Karen Hinton, U.S. spokesperson for the Ecuadorians, said:

"A grave injustice against the Ecuadorians has been set right by today's 2nd Circuit ruling. It rebukes Chevron's abusive legal tactics of the past two years designed solely to malign the very people who suffer as a result of the company's deliberate poisoning of their homeland, the Ecuadorian rainforest. Once Ecuadorian law allows enforcement of the judgment, it will become even more evident that the only fraud committed in Ecuador in the context of this historic environmental litigation was Chevron's. Chevron's fraud includes the deliberate use of substandard operational practices all designed to further inflate company profits at the expense of human life, the manipulation of scientific evidence during the trial and the launching of a smear campaign to distract attention from its own misconduct." 

Craig Smyser of Smyser Kaplan & Veselka in Houston, an attorney for the Ecuadorians, said:

"The Ecuadorian inhabitants of the Amazon river basin today scored a remarkable victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  That court rejected Chevron's efforts to declare the Ecuadorian judgment invalid and unenforceable and instead ordered the New York trial court to dismiss Chevron's claim for injunctive and declarative relief in its entirety.  For 18 years, the Ecuadorians have sought vindication for Chevron's pollution of their land, rivers, and lives with toxic wastes as a result of Chevron's substandard drilling practices that would not have been permitted in the United States. 

"Instead of confronting its environmental despoliation, Chevron has engaged in an international smear campaign of lawyer- and court-bashing. As a result of the 2nd Circuit's opinion today and the confirmation of the Ecuadorian trial court's judgment by the Ecuadorian appellate court, the wheels of the law are bringing Chevron to justice.  This decision vindicates the application of international law and comity to these proceedings in New York."

For more information, see www.chevrontoxico.com and The Chevron Pit.

Contact: Karen Hinton, 703-798-3109, [email protected]

SOURCE Amazon Defense Coalition