How many wrongs are necessary before there simply cannot be a right? Chevron/Texaco quite clearly deposited poorly cleaned runoff and waste material in Ecuador. Then, in a truly awe-inspiringly corrupt case, American lawyers paid money to the judge for the right to actually write the opinion of the court in Ecuador that found $18b in damages. Their own junior lawyers acknowledged that if caught, they not only risked losing their credibility but also going to jail. Now, since the companies have no substantive assets to curtail or seize in Ecuador, the judgment must be upheld in a country where they do have assets. US courts unequivocally said, hell no, due to the clear fraud and corruption. The end result is a toxic case on multiple levels. The verdict of original damages is so haphazard that it may prove unenforcable anywhere, prompting a truly amazing battle or words including an Ecuadorean plaintiff group claiming their free speech rights have been violated and that a US court has no jurisdiction on cases outside of the US (which is oddly hypocritical, considering theyre trying to enforce an Ecuadorean courts ruling on US soil). There are even steps being made to sue their own lawyer group for bungling the case and profiting illegally (perhaps the only effort that really seems to make full sense). So now were left with a situation in which a small, poor Ecuadorean village somehow got promised $18b, a figure with no real logical basis, and as a result will probably never see anything at all. Clearly they deserve a reasonable settlement, having been unquestionably wronged. However, I cant even decide which side is the bad guys anymore, other than both. Its a horrible situation, seemingly resulting from a combination of two different parts American corporate greed one part corrupt judicial system, and one part naive/poorly-advised townspeople. As usual, the only people who will make money are the lawyers. Surely there must be a better resolution.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 01:23:53 +0000
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