lawyer who won against chevron

Can a disbarred lawyer win a $9 billion Chevron case?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A divided U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld the criminal contempt conviction of a disbarred lawyer who won but was unable to collect a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron Corp for polluting the Ecuadorian rainforest.

Did Chevron pay $30K to a lawyer with a conflict of interest?

Judge Preska rejected claims of a conflict of interest, saying Chevron paid the firm $30,000, an amount she described as a “de minimis” slice of firm’s total revenue. Donziger describes himself as the “only lawyer in U.S. history” to be prosecuted after complying with a civil order.

What did the judge say in the Chevron case?

In a 245-page ruling, Senior U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska acknowledged the international controversy the case has engendered. “This case, however, is wholly unconcerned with the debate regarding any responsibility Chevron might bear for that pollution,” she wrote.

Is the Chevron case bad news for climate activists?

But the latest twists and turns in the Chevron case may also be particularly bad news for climate activists. A mere 20 companies are responsible for a third of the greenhouse gases emitted in the modern era; Chevron ranks second only to Saudi Aramco among them.

What happened to Steven Donziger?

Donziger was charged with contempt of court for refusing to hand over his computer, cellphone, and other electronic devices in August of 2019. He had already endured 19 days of depositions and given Chevron large portions of his case file.

Why did Chevron sue Steven Donziger?

In 2011, Chevron filed a civil RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) suit against Donziger in New York City, accusing him of bribing an Ecuadorean judge, ghostwriting the damages judgment against it, and "fixing" scientific studies.

What is Steven Donziger in jail for?

Donziger, who was disbarred in New York last year, was found guilty of criminal contempt in July including for failing to turn over his computer and other electronic devices in connection with his long-running legal battle with Chevron Corp over oil pollution in Ecuador.

Is Steven Donziger corrupt?

Donziger was found responsible for forging evidence and engaging in corrupt practices to win a lawsuit against the well-known oil company Chevron. Evidence showed that the lawyer engaged in bribery to get the Ecuadorian courts to render a verdict in his favor.

Did Chevron ever pay Ecuador?

In 2011, an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay $18.2 billion for "extensively polluting" the Lago Agrio region in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Ecuador's highest court upheld the verdict a year later. However, it reduced the amount of compensation to $9.5 billion. Chevron never complied with the ruling.

Who prosecuted Donziger?

Judge KaplanSpecial offer: Subscribe for $1 a week. After the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to prosecute the case, Judge Kaplan took the rare step of appointing a private law firm, Seward & Kissel, to prosecute Mr. Donziger in the name of the U.S. government, Mr. Kuby said.

Who won the Chevron case?

Few news outlets covered the detention of Steven Donziger, who won a multibillion-dollar judgment in Ecuador against Chevron over the massive contamination in the Lago Agrio region and has been fighting on behalf of Indigenous people and farmers there for more than 25 years.

What was the impact of the Chevron case on the Amazon?

The Chevron case may be most devastating for the plaintiffs in the Amazon, who never received their judgment despite being left with hundreds of unlined waste pits and contaminated water and soil from millions of gallons of spilled crude oil and billions of gallons of dumped toxic waste.

Why was the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron invalid?

Instead, that case was decided solely by Kaplan, who ruled in 2014 that the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron was invalid because it was obtained through “ egregious fraud ” and that Donziger was guilty of racketeering, extortion, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.

Where did Donziger leave the courthouse?

So on August 6, Donziger left a Lower Manhattan courthouse unnoticed and boarded the 1 train home with an electronic monitoring device newly affixed to his ankle. Save for the occasional meeting with his lawyer or other court-sanctioned appointment, he has remained there ever since.

When did the Texaco lawsuit start?

The twisted legal saga began in 1993, when Donziger and other attorneys filed a class-action suit in New York against Texaco on behalf of more than 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people in the Amazon over massive contamination from the company’s oil drilling there.

Is Chevron targeting Donziger?

Chevron, which has a market capitalization of $228 billion, has the funds to continue targeting Donziger for as long as it chooses . In an emailed statement, Chevron wrote that “any jurisdiction that observes the rule of law should find the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment to be illegitimate and unenforceable.”.

Has Donziger been disbarred?

As a result, Donziger has been disbarred and his bank accounts have been frozen.