QUITO, Ecuador—An Ecuadorean court ordered Chevron Corp. to pay more than $8.6 billion in damages for oil pollution that allegedly took place in the country's Amazon region, a milestone in a lawsuit that has been simmering since 1993.

But the legal battle, in which residents of the region allege that Texaco polluted their land, is nowhere near its conclusion. Chevron, which inherited the lawsuit when it bought Texaco in 2001, denies the allegations and vowed Monday to appeal the court's judgment.


The U.S. oil giant also has engaged in a massive effort that could postpone or derail the plaintiffs' attempts to collect any awards. Last Friday, an international tribunal in The Hague ordered Ecuador to temporarily suspend the enforcement of any potential judgments against Chevron.

A person familiar with the matter said that both the plaintiffs and Chevron were notified of the ruling early Monday by the Ecuadorean judge, and have until Thursday to submit an appeal. A copy of the verdict, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, shows that the judge ordered Chevron to pay $5.4 billion to restore polluted soil; $1.4 billion to create a health system for the Amazon community; $800 million to treat sick people affected by the pollution, and about $1 billion to restore water sources, help native species recover and create a community program to rebuild local culture.

Pablo Fajardo, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said his team was still reviewing the 200-page document and couldn't give a full opinion until Tuesday. He said that although he didn't rule out the possibility of appealing to ask for a higher amount, the fact that the judge issued a ruling favorable to the plaintiffs was a "very positive step." Last summer the plaintiffs asked the court for $113 billion in damages.

Chevron said in a statement that the Ecuadorean court's ruling is "illegitimate and unenforceable."

"It is the product of fraud and is contrary to the legitimate scientific evidence. Chevron will appeal this decision in Ecuador and intends to see that justice prevails," the company added.

The San Ramon, Calif.-based oil company has long said it expected an adverse ruling, and in the past two years has sought to prove, through evidence dug up in U.S. courts, that the plaintiffs' case is fraudulent. The plaintiffs have rejected Chevron's claims of fraud.

Chevron shares rose 1.3% to $96.95 in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has gained about 36% over the past year.

EDIT: culled from the WSJ

Communities in the ND should be watching this case.

eku_bear:

Communities in the ND should be watching this case.

Them go watch tire  - You need strong institutions to deliver such legal landslides in favour of the masses but unfortunately such does not exist in Nigeria.  The Nigerian leaders is so highly compromised and inept.  You have a case where Yakubu Gowon was in collision with prifzer to hamper efforts in securing compensation for the persons used as guinea pigs.

Pfizer victims unlikely to get compensation soon
By Nicholas Ibekwe
January 23, 2011 08:23AM
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The hope of victims of the 1996 Trovan Clinical Trial in Kano conducted by Pfizer to get appropriate compensation continues to grow dim, as the multinational pharmaceutical company, with the support of some self-serving Nigerian elite, has not relented in its efforts to prolong the suffering of the mostly impoverished victims.

The multinational pharmaceutical company, which admitted to the Federal Government Trovan Investigative Panel in 2001 that it had not taken proper records of the 200 victims it admittedly used in their experiment, is now claiming that it has the DNA samples of those used as guinea pigs in the trial.

Throughout the negotiations leading up to its settlement with the Kano State government, even while appearing before the investigative panel set up by the federal government in 2001, at no time did Pfizer mention that it had taken DNA samples of those illegally recruited for its trial. Pfizer, which unfortunately, has been calling the shots throughout the negotiations, now requires victims to present their DNA samples as a mean of authenticating that they were actually subjects in the trial before any form of compensation is paid to them.

According to excerpts of what we believe is a copy of a secretive settlement agreement Pfizer reached with the Nigerian government, the company, which entered the settlement on the basis of “no admission of liability”, is asking “any person submitting a claim form to the Fund must provide a saliva sample for DNA testing purposes, and must consent and submit to a medical examination if requested.”

Improper Identification

However, the victims’ lawyers have questioned Pfizer’s demand for the victims’ DNA samples. They contend that in the first place, the company didn’t even have proper identification of the trial subjects. In 1996, Pfizer, capitalizing on the support of corrupt government officials, flew in their doctors in the middle of an outbreak of a tripod of measles, cholera and cerebrospinal meningitis epidemic, to conduct an illegal clinical trial on sick infants in Kano. Apparently trying to cover up all traces of the clinical trial it was conducting in a room with newspaper-covered windows, the company did not bother to properly identify the sick children they were using as “laboratory animals”. The victims were simply identified by serial numbers and initials written on tiny pink cards.

“Let us assume that Pfizer collected the DNA samples of the victims, how are they going to link the correct DNA sample with some initials appearing more than one time?”, asked Kunle Omitimirin, a member of the victims’ legal team.

“The victims were treated worse than guinea pigs”, said Mr. Ishola, a member of the victims’ legal team. “In a laboratory, guinea pigs are better identified.”

Further, throughout the negotiation leading to the settlement with the Kano State, at no time did Pfizer mention that it was in possession of DNA samples of those it used for the clinical trial. The multinational, which earns upwards of $18 billion annually, only came up with the issue of DNA tests when it was time to compensate the victims.

Legality of collecting DNA samples

Counsel to the victims have also argued that it is illegal to collect a person’s DNA samples without their consent. Pfizer, so far, has been unable to present any documentary evidence that the victims consented that samples of their DNA should be collected. Even Aliyu Umar, the attorney general of Kano State, admitted to NEXT that it was not legal to do a DNA test without the consent of the person to whom the test was being administered.

Mr. Ishola further argued that judging the short time Pfizer spent in Kano in 1996 before they hurriedly left in the middle of the epidemic, it was almost impossible for Pfizer to have completed the DNA tests of the 200 children it claimed it used in the trial.

“How are we sure that Pfizer will not provide the DNAs of Ugandans just to show the world that most of the claims were false”, said a lawyer who pleaded anonymity.

Counsel to the victims are expressing serious doubts as to the motives behind the call for DNA testing by Pfizer at this point in time. Mr. Ishola claims that his studies on clinical trials show that the DNA of the subjects is mostly required when concluding a trial. According to him, he suspects that Pfizer might be requesting for the DNA samples of the victims so as to use them to complete information already collected on the test.

Meningitis Fund Board of Trustees

The composition of a Meningitis Fund Board of Trustees has stirred up further controversy leading to the settlement. The board of trustees, which draws its funding from the Kano State government’s $30 million (N4.5 billion) share of the $75 million (N11.25 billion) compensation paid by Pfizer, comprises of Abubakar Wali, the former Supreme Court justice as chairman; Alfa Belgore, the former chief justice of Nigeria; David Odiwo as executive secretary; Muataseer Ibrahim, the vice chancellor of the Katsina State University; Isa Hashim (who has been sacked from the board by the Kano State government) and Musa Borodo.

According to the agreement reached with the Kano State government, Pfizer is required to appoint three members of the board and the Kano State government, the other three members. Counsel to the victims have argued that the composition of the board is faulty. According to them, the victims should have been represented on the board. They averred that what Pfizer and the Kano State government have done is appoint themselves as judges in a case where they are the accused. The victims’ counsel are of the position that there is no way the victims are going to get justice form this board.

Next also learnt that apart from the Toyota Prado Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) given to each member of the board, they were also paid N1 million each at every sitting. According to our source, who asked not be named, the committee had sat for about 15 times at the luxurious The Prince Hotel in Kano.

“Any member of the committee who has a conscience seeing the plight of the victims should have immediately resigned from the committee,” said Mr. Ishola.

Haven't Shell been fined twice already for oil pollution by Nigerian courts?

nigerians are the worst.

there are thousands of cases against shell by nigerian communities and the government, halliburton recently joining the list.

like how you guys were trying to say nigerians dont protest when you missed at least 3 years of your education due to your teachers constantly protesting.

I may be wrong though, but one thing I know is that, no matter the litigations and fines against oil companies in Nigeria, they (the companies) will end up paying nothing due to these:
1) The contract/term of operation in Nigeria. These companies operate as joint ventures with NNPC, and any levy fined on them (the companies) by the judiciary is a levy on the executive arm of govt too - not something the govt will be favourably disposed too. We must first change their contract b4 anything else
2) Our judiciary/legislature is a joke wrt the fine levied on shell. They did absolutely nothing to arrive at the figures. Such system wont work either

Love the Ecuadorian case though, meting out the same punishment USA meted out to BP

EzeUche_:

The communities in the Niger Delta can watch this case all they want, but without support from our federal government, the case will go no where. At least the communities in Ecuador have the support of their government and judicial system. In Nigeria, people like Gowon would try to stop the people of the Niger Delta from getting large cash settlements.

I agree with you bro, but i guess the Ecuadorian Govt better
prepare themself for a fight,

His a Buddy of Hugo Chavez (Bolivarian Alliance), So the USA are not all to please with this dude!

Look at their Presidents Profile, MY THE FORCE BE WITH HIM!,




Rafael Correa Delgado - President Of Ecuador

Rafael Correa Delgado born April 6, 1963)

[1] is the President of the Republic of Ecuador and was the president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations. An economist educated in Ecuador, Belgium and the United States. He was elected President in late 2006 and took office in January 2007. In December 2008, he declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate because it was contracted by corrupt/despotic prior regimes, pledging to fight creditors in international courts, and succeeded in reducing the price of the debt letters and continued paying all the debt.

[2] He brought Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Correa

^^

The above is what you call a people oriented leader and not the nonsense we have in Nigeria who are happy to maintain the  corrupt and evil status quo.


read this

Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado is one smart damn cookie. With BA, MA, and PhDs in Economics, this Correa cat is well versed in all things financial, and he is using his skills to strike a new path forward for his otherwise standardly under-developed state. He is worldly-wise too: having traveled and studied in Europe and the United States, he has a savvy global perspective and knows how the system works form both sides of the economic feeding chain.


I thought they said GEJ has a PHD . absolute useless in context to the Nigerian situation.