Lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher turned to an often ignored section of U.S. law to obtain depositions, documents and outtakes of a documentary film in an effort to prove that environmental contamination claims brought in Ecuador against their client, Chevron Corp., are fraudulent.

The case, filed by a group of Ecuadorian citizens, alleges that a subsidiary of Texaco Inc., which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, contaminated the water while extracting oil in the region.