Related
Stories
 |
| Analysts say Chevron is the number two oil company in the US |
The US
Supreme Court has declined to block a judgement from an Ecuadorian court that a
US oil firm pay billions in damages for pollution in the Amazon.
Chevron was
fighting a ruling that it must pay $18.2bn (£11.4bn) in damages, a sum
increased to $19bn in July.
It is the
latest move in a decades-long legal wrangle between Texaco, bought by Chevron
in 2001, and the people of the Lago Agrio region of Ecuador.
The
decision could affect other oil firms accused of pollution.
The high
court did not explain why it decided to reject the appeal from Chevron.
The case
claimed that Texaco contaminated land between 1964 and 1992, and has triggered
several other lawsuits in courts within the US and elsewhere.
But Chevron
has said it believes the judgement, handed down by a court in Ecuador in
February 2011, is fraudulent and not enforceable under New York law.
In March
2011 a court in New York issued an injuction that blocked the judgement. But it
was overturned in January this year by an appeals court, which said Chevron had
challenged the judgement prematurely.
The appeals
court also said the New York judge could not stop other, foreign courts from
enforcing the judgement - something the Ecuadorian plaintiffs are working to do
in Canada and Brazil.
The
judgement originally ordered $8.6bn in environmental damages, but that was more
than doubled because the oil company did not apologise publicly.
"While
Chevron is disappointed that the court denied our petition, we will continue to
defend against the plaintiffs' lawyers' attempts to enforce the fraudulent
Ecuadorian judgment, and to further expose their misconduct," Chevron said
in an email statement.
The oil
firm has also challenged the judgement under an international trade agreement
between the US and Ecuador, due to begin in November.
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.