RICO

Reuters reports on a trial that ended this week in which Chevron is seeking injunctive relief against a plaintiff's lawyer and some of his clients. Chevron accuses "U.S. lawyer Steven Donziger of orchestrating an international criminal conspiracy by using bribery and fraud in Ecuador to secure a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment against the oil company," according to Reuters. The case resulted in a $18 billion judgment.

But one of Donziger's lawyers, Zoe Littlepage, said "'raw accusations and allegations are not proof. Steven Donziger may be a jerk. That's not a crime,"' according to Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan is presiding over the equity case. Post-trial briefs will be submitted before the judge issues a ruling.

Reuters reports on a trial opening this week in which Chevron is seeking injunctive relief against a plaintiff's lawyer and some of his clients: "Chevron Corp will try to convince a U.S. judge this week that a group of Ecuadorean villagers and their U.S. lawyer used bribery to win an $18 billion judgment against Chevron from a court in Ecuador, in the latest chapter in a long-running fight over pollution in the Amazon jungle."

In December, two Pittsburgh attorneys, as well as a doctor they hired to read X-rays, were found liable by a federal civil jury in West Virginia for violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and for state-law fraud over 11 fraudulent asbestos claims by railroad employees against CSX Transportation, I reported for The Legal Intelligencer in a story picked up by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Now the presiding judge has tripled the award of  $429,240.47, which was the amount CSX said it spent to defend 11 claims it said exemplified a wider practice, the West Virginia Record reports. Awards under RICO can be tripled, the West Virginia Record also reported.

My full coverage from December is here: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/legal/two-pittsburgh-asbest...

http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202582429830&slreturn=201...