On Friday, four days after an Ecuadorian court hit Chevron with a multibillion dollar judgment for despoiling the Lago Agrio region, the parties appeared before Manhattan federal district court judge Lewis Kaplan for a hearing on Chevron’s request for a preliminary injunction. In a surprise appearance, white collar defense lawyer John Keker showed up as counsel for embattled plaintiffs’ lawyer Steven Donziger.
Donziger is fighting a RICO suit filed by Chevron that casts him as the ringleader of a plaintiffs’ team that, among other things, ghostwrote the report of a supposedly independent court-appointed expert in Ecuador. He’s also fighting Chevron’s efforts to keep the plaintiffs from enforcing their judgment. On Feb. 8, before the $8 billion judgment was issued, Judge Kaplan issued a 14-day temporary restraining order barring the Ecuadorian plaintiffs and their lawyers from advancing enforcement of an Ecuadorian award. On Monday, Judge Kaplan extended the TRO to March 8.
