Filing Asks National Court of Justice to Review and Overturn
Appellate Judgment
SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2012--
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) today announced that it has filed an
appeal seeking review by Ecuador’s National Court of Justice of the
adverse appellate judgment issued against the company in early 2012 by a
panel of three temporary judges in the environmental lawsuit in Ecuador.
Chevron’s appeal, called a petition for cassation, details multiple
legal grounds for reversal of the January appellate court decision. The
appeal establishes that the lower courts violated the Ecuadorian
constitution by refusing to take any corrective action in response to
the extensive fraud and corruption committed by plaintiffs’ lawyers and
their representatives. The filing goes on to outline several other
fundamental points, including: that the lower court’s judgment is
unlawfully premised on fraudulent and scientifically baseless evidence;
that the judgment is illegally based upon the retroactive application of
law; that it ignores the releases of liability granted to Texaco
Petroleum Co. (Tex Pet) by the government of Ecuador following a cleanup
of Tex Pet’s share of remediation sites in the 1990s; and that the
judgment awarded punitive and other damages never requested in
plaintiffs’ complaint and not allowed under Ecuadorian law.
“Throughout the course of this litigation, judges corruptly operating in
concert with the plaintiffs’ lawyers have created, rather than
corrected, injustice,” said Hewitt Pate, Chevron vice president and
general counsel. “Today’s appeal gives the National Court of Justice an
opportunity to correct the grave injustices that have occurred in this
case.”
In addition to the cassation appeal filing today, Chevron continues to
seek recourse through legal proceedings outside of Ecuador. In the
arbitration proceedings Chevron instituted against Ecuador in The Hague
under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), the Tribunal
issued an order on February 9, 2011, requiring Ecuador to take all
measures at its disposal to suspend enforcement of the Lago Agrio
judgment until further order of the Tribunal. The Tribunal also recorded
that if it were established that any judgment made by an Ecuadorian
court in the Lago Agrio case was a breach of an obligation Ecuador owed
to Chevron as a matter of international law, any loss arising from the
enforcement of such judgment (within and without Ecuador) may be losses
for which Ecuador would be responsible to Chevron under international
law.
Based on the Tribunal’s order, Chevron has asked that the Ecuadorian
appellate court take all steps to suspend enforcement of the Lago Agrio
judgment until further order of the Tribunal, including suspension of
any requirement that Chevron post a bond to prevent enforcement of the
judgment during the cassation appeal. Any demand that Chevron post a
bond in this case would be a violation of Ecuador’s international
obligations under the order of the BIT Tribunal, and Chevron has no
obligation to post such a bond.
The plaintiffs have indicated that they will seek to have Ecuador defy
the BIT Tribunal’s order by pursuing enforcement of the corrupt
judgment outside of Ecuador before the BIT Tribunal has an
opportunity to review the merits of the case. In the event the
plaintiffs carry through on their threats to file enforcement actions
against Chevron affiliates in other countries, Chevron will take
appropriate steps to defend against this fraud.
Chevron also is pursuing an action in the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York against the Lago Agrio plaintiffs’
representatives for violations of the federal racketeering statute,
common-law fraud and other relief based upon the overwhelming evidence
of their fraud and corruption.
A copy of Chevron’s cassation appeal can be accessed at www.chevron.com/ecuador.
Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, with
subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide. The company is involved in
virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for,
produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and
distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells
petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy;
provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources
of the future, including biofuels. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif.
More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
Source: Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation
Justin Higgs, 925-790-3327
