Lewis Kaplan News

Chevron Wins A Round In U.S. Suit - Ecuador Case

A federal judge on Friday rejected a bid by a U.S. lawyer to stall the enforcement of a ruling that found he used fraud to secure a $9.5 billion pollution judgment against Chevron Corp in Ecuador. Lawyer Steven Donziger is appealing a 500-page decision issued by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in March that barred him from collecting on a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in the United States. Chevron filed a lawsuit against Donziger in New York, claiming he used bribery and fake evidence to win the historic damage award for a group of villagers who claimed the oil giant polluted an area of north eastern Ecuador. An Ecuadorean judge had awarded the villagers $18 billion in 2011 but the country's high court later cut the judgment in half.