Key Events Loom in Chevron Ecuadorian Pollution Case

There are two key events slated for April 20 in the legal controversy between plaintiffs lawyer Steven Donziger and Chevron, which argues that Donziger used fraud to win a $9.5 billion environmental-pollution judgment in Ecuador, The Litigation Daily's Michael D. Goldhaber reports. An arbitration panel is going to hear a three-week trial on the merits of Chevron's claims under international law that Ecuador violated its treaty obligation to let foreign investors enforce their rights by colluding with Donziger. On the same day as the arbitration panel is supposed to start, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is going to hear arguments that the litigation "amounted to a racketeering enterprise, and that Donziger and his clients committed multiple frauds on the Ecuadorean court." The Second Circuit also is going to consider if the American racketeering statute can support a worldwide injunction.