03/04/2014 // West Palm Beach, Florida, US // JusticeNewsFlash // Justice News Flash // (press release)
New York – A federal judge’s ruling on Tuesday blocked efforts to collect a $9 billion Ecuadorean judgment against Chevron in courts in the U.S. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the judge cited in the ruling that corruption was involved in the proceedings, in which the judgment was previously awarded by a court in Ecuador.
New York City lawyer, Steven Donziger, and Ecuadorean lawyers were stated by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to have corrupted the case with the submission of fraudulent evidence and coercion of the Ecuadorean judge.
The case stems from a legal battle between oil companies and residents of the Amazon rainforest. A judgment of $18 billion was awarded in 2011 by an Ecuadorean judge on behalf of 30,000 residents for environmental damage caused by Texaco prior to it being bought by Chevron. Ecuador’s highest court reduced the judgment nearly in half last year.
Donziger has expressed plans to appeal Kaplan’s decision, calling it “an appalling decision resulting from a deeply flawed proceeding.”
Kaplan is quoted as writing in his decision, “Justice is not served by inflicting injustice. The ends do not justify the means…It is distressing that the course of justice was perverted.”
This report is provided by Justice News Flash – New York Legal News
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