In the epic legal battle over Chevron Corporation’s responsibility for alleged environmental damage to the Amazon jungle, the first round went to the plaintiffs: An Ecuadorian judge awarded them $19 billion in 2011. But outtakes from a documentary film about the case, Crude, fueled Chevron’s contentions that the plaintiffs won the mega-verdict in Ecuador through extortion, fraud, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. The next chapter unfolds with a civil racketeering trial—at press time scheduled to start October 15—in U.S. district court in Manhattan against the lead plaintiffs attorney, his cocounsel, and an environmental consulting firm. We think this could make a great movie, too.
RANDY MASTRO
A former prosecutor, Chevron’s lead lawyer at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has taken an aggressive stance in the case, accusing the plaintiffs attorneys of bribing an Ecuadorian judge and ghostwriting a supposedly independent expert’s report.
