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A Canadian court ruled in favor of Chevron Corporation after denying Ecuador‘s request to issue a summary judgment against against the corporation on behalf of the Andean nation.
The judge in the case ruled that the multi-million dollar damages against Chevron Canada Limited can not be enforced.
- Read More: US Court Rules in Favor of Chevron, Against Ecuador
- Read More: Chevron and Ecuadorian Plaintiffs Will Face off in Canada
The court concluded that Chevron Canada Limited is a separate legal entity from Chevron Corporation and thus is not part of the Ecuadorian lawsuit, therefore it can not be held legally responsible for damages by Ecuador.
“Once again, the plaintiffs’ efforts to enforce their fraudulent judgment have been rejected,” said R. Hewitt Pate, vice president and general counsel for Chevron Corporation.
In its ruling the Canadian court referred to the ruling of a US federal court in 2014, which states that the verdict issued against Chevron Corporation by a court in Ecuador was a product of fraud and organized crime, including extortion, money laundering, electronic fraud, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.
The US court also barred the enforcement of the Ecuadorian sentence in the United States.
Chevron has no assets in Ecuador, where the nation is seeking to collect on a $9.5 billion judgment, so they have been forced to pursue legal action in other countries, in order to attempt to collect on the judgment.
The plaintiffs, led by US lawyer Steven Donziger, are trying to enforce the judgment in other jurisdictions, including Canada, Argentina, and Brazil.
Brazil has also rejected Ecuador’s attempts to collect on Chevron’s Brazilian affiliate. The lawsuit deals with alleged environmental damage caused by the oil giant in Ecuador’s Amazonian region, east of the Andes mountains.
Source: Bloomberg
