Chevron's suggestion this week that it might withdraw from a landmark $6 billion rainforest pollution trial in Ecuador on the eve of a final judgment represents a "desperate move" that could backfire against the oil giant, representatives for the plaintiffs said on July 4th.
Pablo Fajardo, lead lawyer for the 30,000 plaintiffs, rejected Chevron's latest attack on a court-appointed damages expert as "a desperate, last-ditch attempt to avoid a judgment in a trial it is clearly losing." Ricardo Reis Veiga, a Chevron vice president, said earlier this week in Quito that the company was considering ignoring the decision of the court.
"Chevron is engaging in a dirty war against the court because it is backed into a corner with very few options other than to try to undermine the trial," said Fajardo, referring both to the evidence in the case itself and a stinging defeat Chevron suffered last month when a U.S. federal court ruled the company had no right to force the Ecuadorian government into international arbitration over the environmental damages.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said Chevron's strategy contains several potential pitfalls.
"After fourteen years of litigation in which Chevron has vigorously participated, any court will likely view this effort as a stunt to avoid paying up and that will make it easier for the rainforest residents to recover damages," said Alejandro Ponce, a member of the legal team.
"What Chevron thinks about the process will not determine the outcome. If we win and the company ignores the decision, we will immediately move to collect the judgment by any means necessary in whatever country the company has assets."
On Tuesday, Chevron took out full-page advertisements in several Ecuadorian newspapers to attack the credentials of Richard Cabrera, the court- appointed damages expert. Cabrera, 54, is a tenured professor at one of Ecuador's leading technical schools, where he teaches petroleum engineering, environmental science, mining, and geology. Ponce called the ads part of a "smear campaign" to cast doubt on the expert's work, set to begin today. -Amazon Watch
