U.S. Courts Aren’t Interested in Chevron’s Pollution Case, But Other Nations May Be

Chevron Corp. won a big victory Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case that began with an effort to hold the company liable for massive oil pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon. But the long international war over who’s responsible for the degradation of the rainforest is far from over.

Litigation continues in Canada and Brazil. Back in the U.S., the energy giant has asked a federal court to force the lead lawyer for Ecuadorian villagers to pay the company tens of millions of dollar in attorneys’ fees. Chevron’s legal fee motion can be interpreted as a warning to other plaintiffs’ lawyers who might use tactics similar to those employed in the Ecuador case.