Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. won a U.S. jury verdict dismissing claims by Nigerian protesters who were attacked by company-paid soldiers called to an offshore-drilling platform in 1998.

The federal court jury in San Francisco yesterday cleared Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, of wrongful death, torture, assault, battery and negligence claims brought by Nigerian villagers accusing the company of aiding soldiers who swooped down in helicopters in a dawn raid and killed two men and shot and beat others holding a protest for jobs aboard the oil platform.

Chevron told the jury during a four-week trial that the villagers invaded the platform and held 150 workers hostage for ransom. The company’s Nigerian unit called the military to rescue the workers, who were attacked by the villagers and decided on their own to shoot, Chevron’s lawyers argued. The verdict came during the second day of deliberations.

“The jury upheld our position that our response was a reasonable one,” Don Campbell, a Chevron spokesman, said after the verdict. “Our employees have a right to be safe wherever they are at work.”

Bert Voorhees, an attorney for Larry Bowoto, a Nigerian man who headed the protests in 1998 and was shot in the attack, said the plaintiffs will appeal the jury’s decision.

‘Cultural Barriers’

“This struggle will continue,” Voorhees told reporters yesterday. “It’s a difficult story to tell across cultural barriers.”

The trial is the second of a U.S. company under a 219-year- old U.S. law called the Alien Tort Claims Act that allows foreigners to sue in federal court for violations of international law or treaties.

Drummond Co., a Birmingham, Alabama-based coal producer, won a trial last year over claims that it was liable for the deaths of union leaders at a company mine in Colombia. The alien tort statute is cited in as many as 30 lawsuits filed against companies including Chiquita Brands International Inc., Rio Tinto Group, Citigroup Inc. and IBM Corp.

At the Chevron trial, Bowoto’s lawyers said the villagers were unarmed and never threatened workers on the platform and an adjacent barge and tugboat. The protesters were seeking to negotiate with Chevron for jobs and community support after environmental damage caused by Chevron’s operations killed fish and other sources of food, the lawyers said.

Hung by Wrists

In addition to Bowoto, the plaintiffs included the three wives and 11 children of a villager killed on the platform and the wife and children of another protester who was detained by the military after the attack and hung by his wrists and tortured.

Chevron’s lawyers said at the trial that the case was about a company’s right to call law enforcement to protect workers. The protesters had knives, prevented workers from leaving the platform and threatened to set it on fire, the jury was told.

Companies have a right to “turn to local authorities” when their workers are in danger, Campbell said after the verdict.

Exxon Mobil Corp., based in Irving, Texas, is the world’s largest oil company.

The case is Bowoto v. Chevron Corp., 99-2506, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

To contact the reporters on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco at kgullo@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 2, 2008 00:01 EST