Chevron’s Pollution Victory Opens Door for Companies to Shirk Foreign Verdicts

Chevron wasn’t the only winner in Monday’s ruling by a federal appeals court over its long-running Ecuadorian pollution litigation. The victory, in which the court affirmed that a lawyer for victims engaged in wrongdoing to secure a $9.5 billion verdict in the South American country, may 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, the controversial New York attorney who’s been battling Chevron over pollution liability in Ecuador for decades.