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Monday, September 23, 2013

Tribunal finds Chevron not liable for environmental claims in Ecuador

Today's post was shared by Legal Newsline and comes from legalnewsline.com


Chevron Corp. announced Wednesday that an international arbitration tribunal has found the company not liable for environmental claims in Ecuador.

The tribunal is convened under the authority of the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty, also known as the BIT, and administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The PCA, located in The Hague, Netherlands, administers cases arising out of international treaties and other agreements to arbitrate.
On Tuesday, the tribunal issued a partial award in favor of Chevron and its subsidiary, Texaco Petroleum Company, or TexPet.

The tribunal found that the settlement and release agreements that the government of Ecuador entered into with TexPet released TexPet and its affiliates of any liability for all public interest or collective environmental claims.

The arbitration stems from Ecuador’s interference in the ongoing environmental lawsuit against the company.

“The game is up. This award by an eminent international tribunal confirms that the fraudulent claims against Chevron should not have been brought in the first place,” Hewitt Pate, Chevron’s vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. “It is now beyond question that efforts by American plaintiffs lawyers and the government of Ecuador to enforce this fraudulent judgment violate Ecuadorian, U.S. and international law.

“Continuing to support this fraud only increases the government of...
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