- 03 Jun 2021 16:36
#15175508
Steven Donziger: How Chevron Is Attacking Me For Revealing The Truth - YouTube
The Hill, May 19, 2021
The human rights attorney who sued Chevron and won a $9.5 billion case in Ecuador over environmental pollution, Steven Donziger, discusses the details of his own contempt trial.
He claims he has been under house arrest for over 600 days for a charge with a 90 day maximum sentence. He claims that the US government refused to take the case, but Chevron has somehow subverted the system to now let Chevron take the case.
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A now disbarred American lawyer who spent more than two decades battling Chevron Corporation over pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest attempted on Monday to fend off criminal contempt charges stemming from a lawsuit against him by the energy company.
Steven Donziger is on trial in Manhattan federal court for failing to turn over his computer, phones and other electronic devices and refusing court orders to surrender his passport in the civil case brought by Chevron.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska is presiding over the case with no jury.
In an opening statement, prosecuting attorney Rita Glavin said that Donziger had consciously chosen to disobey court orders to turn over his devices and documents.
"Choices have consequences," she said.
Martin Garbus, arguing for Donziger, painted a different picture, saying the court had not initially been clear about what it wanted the lawyer to hand over.
The case is the latest twist in a long-running battle stemming from Donziger's representation of villagers in Ecuador's Lago Agrio region who sought to hold Chevron liable for water and soil contamination in the jungle between 1964 and 1992. Chevron has said Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron, cleaned up the pollution, and that state-owned Petroecuador was mainly responsible for the contamination.
Donziger in 2011 won a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuadorian court. Later that year, the U.S. company sued Donziger in Manhattan federal court, claiming he and his associates pressured the presiding judge in Ecuador.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in 2014 ruled in favor of Chevron, saying the Ecuadorian judgment had been secured through bribery, fraud and extortion.
Chevron sought to recoup money Donziger reaped as a result of the judgment, and Donziger was ordered to turn over certain electronic devices to the company's forensic experts. When he refused, Kaplan charged him with criminal contempt.
Donziger has said the charges violate his rights to due process under the U.S. Constitution.
The Harvard-trained lawyer was disbarred by a state appeals court in New York last year.
Lawyer who sued Chevron over Ecuador pollution faces N.Y. contempt trial | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/lawyer ... 021-05-10/
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It should be pointed out that 600 days is longer than the 18 month limit (about 540 days) that an individual can normally be held under a contempt charge by a US federal court.
This is also an interesting case of legal jurisdiction, where a company can sue an individual for damages, in a US court, when those damages were allegedly caused by bribing government officials in another country.
Steven Donziger: How Chevron Is Attacking Me For Revealing The Truth - YouTube
The Hill, May 19, 2021
The human rights attorney who sued Chevron and won a $9.5 billion case in Ecuador over environmental pollution, Steven Donziger, discusses the details of his own contempt trial.
He claims he has been under house arrest for over 600 days for a charge with a 90 day maximum sentence. He claims that the US government refused to take the case, but Chevron has somehow subverted the system to now let Chevron take the case.
*******
A now disbarred American lawyer who spent more than two decades battling Chevron Corporation over pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest attempted on Monday to fend off criminal contempt charges stemming from a lawsuit against him by the energy company.
Steven Donziger is on trial in Manhattan federal court for failing to turn over his computer, phones and other electronic devices and refusing court orders to surrender his passport in the civil case brought by Chevron.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska is presiding over the case with no jury.
In an opening statement, prosecuting attorney Rita Glavin said that Donziger had consciously chosen to disobey court orders to turn over his devices and documents.
"Choices have consequences," she said.
Martin Garbus, arguing for Donziger, painted a different picture, saying the court had not initially been clear about what it wanted the lawyer to hand over.
The case is the latest twist in a long-running battle stemming from Donziger's representation of villagers in Ecuador's Lago Agrio region who sought to hold Chevron liable for water and soil contamination in the jungle between 1964 and 1992. Chevron has said Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron, cleaned up the pollution, and that state-owned Petroecuador was mainly responsible for the contamination.
Donziger in 2011 won a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuadorian court. Later that year, the U.S. company sued Donziger in Manhattan federal court, claiming he and his associates pressured the presiding judge in Ecuador.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in 2014 ruled in favor of Chevron, saying the Ecuadorian judgment had been secured through bribery, fraud and extortion.
Chevron sought to recoup money Donziger reaped as a result of the judgment, and Donziger was ordered to turn over certain electronic devices to the company's forensic experts. When he refused, Kaplan charged him with criminal contempt.
Donziger has said the charges violate his rights to due process under the U.S. Constitution.
The Harvard-trained lawyer was disbarred by a state appeals court in New York last year.
Lawyer who sued Chevron over Ecuador pollution faces N.Y. contempt trial | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/lawyer ... 021-05-10/
******
It should be pointed out that 600 days is longer than the 18 month limit (about 540 days) that an individual can normally be held under a contempt charge by a US federal court.
This is also an interesting case of legal jurisdiction, where a company can sue an individual for damages, in a US court, when those damages were allegedly caused by bribing government officials in another country.
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