Multiple United States Federal courts have ruled that Chevron is entitled to conduct further investigation into the plaintiffs' lawyers' misconduct, which has included falsifying expert reports, fabricating evidence, making unsubstantiated health and environmental damage claims, colluding with court experts, and seeking to intimidate judges and witnesses:
Tribunal Determines Chevron’s Ecuador Arbitration May Proceed; Permanent Court of Arbitration Panel Establishes Jurisdiction Over Claims Against Republic of Ecuador — An international arbitration tribunal, convened under the authority of the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (the “BIT”) and administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear Chevron’s claims against the Republic of Ecuador. Chevron filed its request for arbitration in 2009, claiming that the Republic violated its obligations under the BIT and international law.
Tribunal Determines Chevron’s Ecuador Arbitration May Proceed (1.2 MB)
Permanent Court of Arbitration Grants New Interim Award; Takes Additional Measures to Bar Enforcement of Judgment Against Chevron in Ecuador Lawsuit — On February 17, 2012 an international panel of arbitrators at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague issued a Second Interim Award ordering Ecuador to prevent enforcement and recognition of the fraudulent Lago Agrio judgment. The Award directs the Republic of Ecuador, including “its judicial, legislative, or executive branches” to “take all measures necessary to suspend or cause to be suspended the enforcement and recognition within and without Ecuador” of the Lago Agrio Judgment.
Second Interim Award Order (456 KB)
Chevron RICO Lawsuit Against Trial Lawyers and Consultants Resumes — On February 17, 2012, a court in the Southern District of New York lifted the stay of Chevron’s civil lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as well as other federal and state laws. The claim is against the trial lawyers and consultants leading a fraudulent litigation and public relations campaign against the company. The complaint was filed in February 2011 and seeks to hold the plaintiffs’ representatives accountable for fraud, extortion, and other misconduct associated with the Lago Agrio litigation. Through the lawsuit, Chevron is seeking damages associated with the cost of defending the Ecuador litigation as well as other relief.
SDNY Order to Lift RICO Stay (240 KB)
Permanent Court of Arbitration Grants Interim Award; Bars Enforcement of Judgment Against Chevron in Ecuador Lawsuit — On January 25, 2012 an international panel of arbitrators at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague converted its February 9, 2011 order for interim measures to an interim award. The award orders the Republic of Ecuador to "take all measures at its disposal to suspend or cause to be suspended the enforcement or recognition within and without Ecuador of any judgment" against Chevron in the Lago Agrio case pending further order or award from the international tribunal.
Interim Award Order (538 KB)
Chevron Submits Evidence of Fraud to Ecuador's Prosecutor General — In December 2011, Chevron submitted evidence to Galo Chiriboga, Ecuador's prosecutor general, that demonstrated that plaintiffs' representatives covertly worked with Judge Nicholas Zambrano to draft the judgment against Chevron. The letter also documents evidence of fraud and corruption in the litigation against Chevron in Ecuador. The company called on Ecuadorian authorities to investigate the misconduct of the plaintiffs' lawyers and the presiding judge, Nicholas Zambrano, in the drafting of the fraudulent judgment rendered against Chevron in 2011.
Letter to Ecuador's Prosecutor General (5.1 MB)
Chevron Files RICO Lawsuit Against Trial Lawyers and Consultants — On February 1, 2011, Chevron Corporation filed a civil lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as well as other federal and state laws against the trial lawyers and consultants leading a fraudulent litigation and public relations campaign against the company. Through the lawsuit, Chevron seeks a court declaration that any judgment against Chevron in the Ecuador lawsuit is the result of fraud and therefore unenforceable. Chevron is also seeking damages associated with the cost of defending the Ecuador litigation.
RICO Filing (1.7 MB)
Lago Agrio Plaintiffs' Consultants Concede that $113 Billion Damages Claim Lacks Scientific Basis — In a December 22, 2010 filing, Chevron submitted deposition transcripts to the court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, containing admissions made by the plaintiffs' own consultants, confirming that there is no scientific basis for the $113 billion damages claim currently pending against the company in Ecuador. Among the most obvious flaws with the plaintiffs' revised assessment is the consultants' overwhelming reliance on the discredited "Cabrera Report," a court-ordered "independent" assessment of environmental conditions of the Oriente region of Ecuador. The report was allegedly authored by Richard Stalin Cabrera, a mining engineer. In recent months, however, "Cabrera's" report has been shown to be a fraud principally ghostwritten by Stratus Consulting, a Colorado-based environmental firm working directly for the plaintiffs' lawyers. In light of this evidence and the admissions made by the plaintiffs' consultants, Chevron is calling on the court to reject the $113 billion damages assessment in its entirety.
Read Filings, Deposition Transcripts and Exhibits: http://scr.bi/hWSbi3
Forged Signatures — Chevron has submitted expert analysis from a leading forensic specialist demonstrating that many of the signatures on the document purporting to authorize the lawsuit against Chevron in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, were forged. Internationally renowned forensic document examiner, Gus R. Lesnevich, determined that at least 20 of the 48 signatures were faked on the document that purported to ratify the 2003 complaint and appoint Ecuadorian lawyer Alberto Wray as plaintiffs' counsel.
Forged Signatures Filing (767 KB)
Declaration of Forensic Examiner Gus Lesnevich (6 MB)
Plaintiffs' Lawyer Must Turn Over Documents — On November 29, 2010, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York ordered the Lago Agrio plaintiffs' lawyer Steven Donziger to turn over all of his files sought under a discovery subpoena filed by Chevron. Donziger has been involved in various Ecuador lawsuits since 1993. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Southern District Court of New York's previous decision in a summary order issued on December 15, 2010.
Summary Opinion, US Court of Appeals. December 15, 2010 (360 KB)
Opinion in Donziger 1782 on Order to Show Cause, November 30, 2010 (205 KB)
In a prior related opinion, Judge Kaplan stated, "In the quite unusual circumstances of this case, however, the need for the discovery, the plainly unprivileged nature of many of Donziger's activities, the evidence of possible fraud and misconduct by Donziger, and other considerations are sufficiently great to require that Donziger respond on the merits to the subpoenas."
SDNY Opinion Denying Steven Donziger's Motions to Quash Subpoenas, November 5, 2010 (314 KB)
Misconduct Captured on Video – In May 2010, a New York Federal court ordered the release of outtakes from the movie Crude after Chevron demonstrated that the raw footage compiled by the filmmaker would be "unimpeachably objective" evidence of any misconduct on the part of plaintiffs' lawyers, expert witnesses, or the government of Ecuador. In a publicly released version of Crude, plaintiffs' lawyers and representatives are seen collaborating with an assistant to Cabrera, documenting an improper relationship that had been hidden. Chevron has subsequently discovered that in the hundreds of hours of outtakes there are dozens of instances where the plaintiffs' lawyers are caught, on high definition video, engaging in serious misconduct.
SDNY Order Granting Expanded Discovery on Crude, September 7, 2010 (181 KB)
Chevron Gets Outtakes From 'Crude' Documentary for Ecuadoran Case, Courthouse News Service, May 7, 2010
SDNY Order Granting Release of Crude Outtakes to Chevron, May 6, 2010 (75 KB)
$27 Billion Fraud Proven – Chevron has submitted to courts in the U.S. and Ecuador video outtakes and transcripts from the movie Crude that show the Lago Agrio plaintiffs' counsel, consultants, and associates meeting with the court's supposedly neutral "Global Expert," Richard Stalin Cabrera Vega, to plan and ghostwrite the $27.3 billion damages report that Cabrera later would present to the court as his own. The video evidence proves that plaintiffs' lawyers and consultants colluded with Cabrera to present a fraudulent report and proves that the plaintiffs' and Cabrera's denials of their collusion have been false. Documents produced during discovery also show that plaintiffs' consultants then produced a "peer review" of "Cabrera's" report in which they found the work, of which they were the true authors, to be scientifically accurate and in line with remediation projects elsewhere in the world.
Court Filing on Stratus Consulting's Ghostwriting of Cabrera's Reports, August 19, 2010
Transcript of Crude Outtakes Featuring Plaintiffs' Lawyers' Conversations about Ecuador's Judiciary, August 12, 2010 (3.0 MB)
Transcript of Crude Outtakes Featuring Plaintiffs' Representatives' Conversation about Forming an "Army" to Intimidate the Lago Agrio Court, August 12, 2010 (2.7 MB)
Transcript of Crude Outtake from March 4, 2007 Meeting Between Donziger and Consultants, August 10, 2010 (1.8 MB)
Transcript of Crude Outtake from March 3, 2007 Meeting Between Plaintiffs' Representatives and Cabrera, August 10, 2010 (5.8 MB)
Chevron Seeks to Expand Discovery in 'Crude' Case, Courthouse News Service, August 5, 2010
Chevron SDNY Filing Introducing Crude Outtakes, August 3, 2010 (244 KB)
Judicial Intimidation – On videotape, the plaintiffs' lawyers and representatives are caught planning to organize an "army" intended to pressure the court in Lago Agrio. Plaintiffs' representatives also assert that "[judges] make decisions based on who they fear the most, not based on what laws should dictate." In a separate conversation, a plaintiffs' representative states that "the only language that I believe, this judge is gonna understand is one of pressure, intimidation and humiliation. And that's what we're doin' today. We're gonna let him know what time it is . . . . We're going to scare the judge." This misconduct is detailed in a Chevron filing in the Southern District of New York.
Chevron SDNY Filing Outlining Plaintiffs' Lawyers' Misconduct, September 1, 2010 (194 KB)
Transcript of Crude Outtakes, August 12, 2010 (2.7 KB)
U.S. Courts Find Fraud – Federal judges in North Carolina, New Mexico, New Jersey, and California who are presiding over discovery proceedings have stated that there is evidence of fraud marring the Ecuador trial. A Federal Magistrate Judge in North Carolina wrote, "While this court is unfamiliar with the practices of the Ecuadorian judicial system, the court must believe that the concept of fraud is universal, and that what has blatantly occurred in this matter would in fact be considered fraud by any court. If such conduct does not amount to fraud in a particular country, then that country has larger problems than an oil spill."
Evidence of Fraud Mounts in Ecuadorian Suit Against Chevron, Fortune.com, September 13, 2010
Order from District of New Mexico on Kamp/E-Tech 1782, September 13, 2010 (530 KB)
Order from District of New Mexico on Kamp/E-Tech 1782, September 10, 2010 (62 KB)
Order from Southern District of California on Powers 1782, September 10, 2010 (69 KB)
Order from the Western District of North Carolina on Camp 1782, August 30, 2010 (152 KB)
Transcript of Southern District of California Hearing on Powers 1782, August 27, 2010 (144 KB)
Transcript of District of New Jersey Hearing on UBR 1782, June 17, 2010 (124 KB)
Transcript of District of New Jersey Hearing on UBR 1782, June 11, 2010 (249 KB)
Evidence of Misconduct Provided to Authorities – Chevron has provided Ecuador's Prosecutor General and other authorities evidence demonstrating misconduct by plaintiffs' lawyers and their associates.
Chevron Letter to Ecuador's Prosecutor General Outlining Evidence of Fraud, July 14, 2010 (85 KB)
Fraudulent Expert Reports – In April 2010, a scientist formerly employed by the plaintiffs testified that plaintiffs' lawyers submitted fraudulent reports to the court under his signature. The scientist claimed that his research did not find "significant contamination," despite the plaintiffs' lawyers' assertions. Another of plaintiffs' former experts has stated that he was "pressured" to come up with an artificially high damage claim and that his preliminary $6 billion estimate of costs to conduct further remediation was off by a factor of ten or more.
Chevron Accuses Ecuador Foes of False Reports, San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2010
Deposition of Charles W. Calmbacher, March 29, 2010 (604 KB)
False Cancer Claims – In 2006, lawyer Cristobál Bonifaz, an architect of the original lawsuit brought fabricated claims against the company on behalf of several citizens of Ecuador. His lawsuit was dismissed by a San Francisco court in 2007 and he was sanctioned for filing fraudulent claims. The district court found that claims had been "manufactured" by Bonifaz "for reasons other than to seek a recovery on the plaintiffs' behalf." The court also observed that the lawyers' lawsuit was "likely a smaller piece of some large scheme against [Chevron]."
Gonzales V Chevron (Sanctions Order), October 16, 2007 (74K)
Gonzales V Chevron (Motion for Summary Judgment Order), August 3, 2007 (33K)
