One might assume that after 21 years of litigation, all the sordid details surrounding the epic Chevron oil pollution case had been made public. Not so. A three-judge federal appeals court panel in Richmond, Va., ruled unanimously on Tuesday that plaintiffs’ lawyers accused of fraud against the oil company must reveal the contents of documents that had been confidential and could hold new information about wrongdoing.
The appellate ruling constitutes the latest victory for Chevron (CVX) as the company seeks to nullify a $19 billion judgment imposed against the company in 2011 by a trial court in Ecuador. The Andean nation’s supreme court has affirmed Chevron’s liability while halving the damages to a still-substantial $9.5 billion.
The plaintiffs in the case—thousands of impoverished farmers and indigenous tribe members—can’t enforce their verdict in Ecuador because Chevron has no assets there and refuses to pay up. So the plaintiffs’ legal team is seeking to enforce the judgment in Canada, Argentina, and Brazil, where the oil company has assets worth billions of dollars.
TVNL Comment: Few know about this case because corporate news support another victory for a murderous polluter.