Regular readers of this column should be happy, but not surprised, to learn that the Supreme Court of Canada has rejected a request to review a ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal that a $9.5 billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron Corporation (“Chevron”) handed down in 2011 by a local court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, cannot be enforced against Chevron Canada Limited. The Ontario Court of Appeal had dismissed all claims against Chevron Canada Limited, holding that it is a separate entity from Chevron.
As this column has discussed in detail, last September an international tribunal administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague issued an award in favor of Chevron and its indirect subsidiary, Texaco Petroleum Company, finding that Ecuador had violated its obligations under international treaties, investment agreements, and international law. The tribunal, in a unanimous ruling by a panel that included an arbitrator selected by Ecuador— held that the $9.5 billion judgment rendered against Chevron was procured through fraud, bribery, and corruption and was based on claims that had been released by Ecuador years earlier. The tribunal concluded that the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment “should not be recognised [sic] or enforced by the courts of other States.”
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