Washington Times Editorial – Stopping the Chevron shakedown; Federal judge steps up to defend American interests
The Washington Times editorializes on the Chevron Ecuador case:
The State Department has done little to help an American corporation battered by a bogus multibillion dollar lawsuit filed in a foreign country. Fortunately, the Obama administration’s leadership void was filled Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who issued an injunction barring any collection efforts against Chevron Corp. by Ecuador.
The plaintiffs allege that Texaco (which Chevron bought in 2001) left behind an environmental mess when it stopped drilling in the South American country in 1992. A previous Ecuadorian government pronounced the sites entirely clean in 1998, but the administration of President Rafael Correa ramped up for the suit when it took office in 2007. Judge Kaplan didn’t buy it, writing, “There is abundant evidence before the court that Ecuador has not provided impartial tribunals or procedures compatible with due process of law.”
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