Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, is appealing the $8.6 billion judgment levied last month by an Ecuadorian court that alleges Texaco polluted water sources in the South American country when the company was operating there. Chevron, which currently does not do business in Ecuador, acquire Texaco a decade ago.
Earlier this week, Chevron won an injunction against the plaintiffs after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York ruled that Ecuadorean plaintiffs cannot collect some or all of the $8.6 billion in damages they are seeking from Chevron in the U.S. or other countries.
In its appeal filing, Chevron (CVX) highlights pattern of fraud by the plaintiffs' lawyers, supporters and others that has corrupted the trial, as well as the numerous legal and factual defects in the judgment, the company said in a statement. The company also obtained documents that memorialize the plaintiffs' lawyers' efforts to pressure judges to rule in their favor, corrupt expert reports, and manufacture evidence, it said in the statement.
Chevron is seeking recourse under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty. The company also alleges the Ecuadorian court that made the ruling disregarded evidence submitted by Chevron and that the court based its judgment on an unlawful, retroactive application of Ecuador's Environmental Management Act, which was enacted in 1999, after Texaco stopped operating in the country.
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