SAN RAMON, Calif. – May 17, 2018 — Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ) reaffirmed yesterday its rejection of the plaintiffs’ attempt to have the fraudulent $9.5 billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron Corporation recognized in Brazil. In November 2017, the STJ ruled, in a unanimous vote, that the Ecuadorian Judgment could not be recognized in Brazil, therefore making the judgment unenforceable in South America’s largest country. In a recently filed “clarification motion”, the plaintiffs requested that the written decision denying recognition be modified to include in its conclusion a statement that the STJ’s denial was not on the merits of the case.
The STJ yesterday rejected the plaintiffs’ latest legal maneuver – an obvious attempt to limit the scope of the STJ’s November 2017 decision via a “clarification motion” – and maintained intact the operative language of the decision. Instead, the STJ decided to solely revise the official abstract (summary) of the decision to match the operative language of the decision and removed the reference in the abstract that the STJ’s decision had not been decided on the merits. In this way, the STJ confirmed the significance and scope of the denial of the plaintiffs’ recognition request.
In response to yesterday’s ruling, Chevron Corporation issued the following statement:
“The plaintiffs’ attempts to partially salvage their already denied fraudulent judgment has been soundly rejected. We remain confident that any jurisdiction that examines the facts of this case and the plaintiffs’ misconduct will find the Ecuadorian Judgment illegitimate and unenforceable.”
Decisions by courts in the United States, Brazil and Argentina confirm the fraudulent Ecuadorian Judgment should be unenforceable in any court that respects the rule of law. On March 4, 2014 the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that the Ecuadorian Judgment against Chevron was product of fraud and racketeering, finding it unenforceable in the United States. The U.S. federal court judgment is now final after having been unanimously affirmed by the court of appeal and denied review by the Supreme Court.
In January 2017, a Canadian court rejected an attempt to enforce the Ecuadorian Judgment against Chevron Canada Limited (CCL). The court found that CCL is a separate entity from Chevron Corporation, not a party to the Ecuadorian lawsuit and not a debtor to the judgment. Legal proceedings in Canada are ongoing.
Chevron Corporation is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemicals and additives; generates power; and develops and deploys technologies that enhance business value in every aspect of the company’s operations. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
