Chevron in Ecuador: when Donziger's chickens come home to roost

This video only offered the "good"side of the coin for the plaintiffs. When the other side was shown, it was pretty ugly.

Some years ago, in Ecuador, a young and brilliant U.S. lawyer, Steven Donziger, persuaded some environmentalist and indigenous groups to sue ChevronTexaco for environmental damages incurred by Texaco in the Amazonia. He felt they could obtain billions of dollars from the company and, of course, part of the money would be going to the legal team.

In his view the probabilities of winning the case were excellent. Texaco had been working in the region for many years and. Although the government of Ecuador had agreed that the company had fulfilled all of its obligations, private parties could still sue the company. An oil company is a favorite target of civic groups and Hollywood actors who perceive the oil industry as evil. Public opinion would be heavily in their favor; depending on how good a media campaign they could develop. The recent election of Rafael Correa was also in their favor since Correa had shown a strong bias against private companies, especially U.S. oil companies.

Donziger did not pay attention to the often expressed opinion that much of the responsibility for damages fell into the lap of Ecuador’s state oil company, PetroEcuador, the majority shareholder in the Texaco operation and the company that had been operating in the area for the last 18 years.

The team planned rather unorthodox strategies to increase its probabilities of success, such as intimidation of judges, aiding the expert to write his report, to organize mass protests in front of the court and to recruit Hollywood actresses such as Daryl Hanna to visit Ecuador. Such strategies were not advertised.

Donziger convinced a Philadelphia reputed legal firm, Kohn Swift and Graf to finance their case. Early on things went very well. The “independent” expert named by the Court, Richard Stalin Cabrera, presented a report in which he asked for $26 billion in damages from ChevronTexaco (later increased to $100 billion). President Rafael Correa spoke publicly and strongly in favor of the plaintiffs, even pressuring the judges by defining Ecuadorian authorities that had allowed Texaco to leave the country as traitors.

Last year things started to go wrong for the plaintiffs. The Philadelphia legal firm severed its link to the case when they knew of the existence of a documentary film, “Crude”, that intended to portray the plaintiffs as idealistic heroes fighting the evil oil corporation. Inexplicably, as Nixon did, the plaintiffs also allowed the recording of incriminating conversations and plotting. This material was requested by Chevron lawyers and presented in the U.S. courts. The graphic record shows a group of plaintiffs planning to write much of the expert’s report, organizing street demonstrations, meeting with Correa’s government officers in order to advance their cause and, even, proposing (in jest) to kill a judge. The videos can be seen at:
at http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jspid=1202474598298&EXCLUSIVE_Chevron_in_Ecuador_mdash_More_of_the_Tapes_the_Plaintiffs_Dont_Want_You_to_See .

Even after these dramatic disclosures the plaintiffs managed to find another legal firm, Washington’s Patton Boggs, willing to keep financing the case. However, thee flow of incriminating information against the plaintiffs has not ceased. Now the personal documents of Steven Donziger have been demanded by the courts

The  " Philadelphia Inquirer” carries a story January 7, 2011, in which they say that the new supporters of the plaintiffs will not have good probabilities to collect, ever. due to the content of the videos and other documents that show the harsh tactics used by the plaintiffs. Any decision against Chevron in Ecuador, after this material has been seen, will be very difficult to enforce in U.S. soil.

This Petroleum drama being played in Lago Agrio, Ecuador is nearing its conclusion. From what we have seen, so far, the decision will have lasting impact on important actors south and north of the hemisphere. The Chevron legal team is to be congratulated for unmasking the material contained in videos and other documents. They have been able to present convincingly the other side of the coin, something that only one year ago looked difficult to do, even to those who knew that the trial had been full of irregularities. ChevronTexaco has been able to produce evidence of legal, political, technical and ethical malpractice by the plaintiffs.