The 25-year battle by Ecuadorian indigenous communities to make energy giant Chevron pay for oilfield pollution of their Amazon rainforest lands prompted conflicting court action recently in Quito and New York City. In Quito, Ecuador’s Constitutional Court in June rejected Chevron’s attempt to overturn a US$9.5 billion judgment indigenous plaintiffs won against the company in 2011 in connection with extensive contamination of their northern Ecuador lands from 1964 to 1992. But in July, a Manhattan appeals court suspended Steven Donziger, a U.S. attorney who advised the legal team that sued Chevron, from practicing on grounds he showed “serious professional misconduct” in the Ecuadorian case. The two developments leave plaintiffs in largely the same position they’ve been in for several years. While victorious in... [Log in to read more]