Chevron Corp. won a U.S. judge’s ruling that a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment issued in Ecuador was procured by fraud, making it less likely that plaintiffs will collect the $9.5 billion award.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said Tuesday that the second-largest U.S. oil company provided enough evidence that plaintiffs secured the 2011 judgment on behalf of rain forest dwellers in the country’s Lago Agrio area by bribing a judge and ghostwriting court documents. Kaplan oversaw a seven-week nonjury trial over Chevron’s allegations.
