Chevron again appeals Ecuador court ruling

Chevron has filed an appeal with Ecuador's National Court of Justice, after an Ecuador appeals court this month upheld a lower court judgement ordering the US oil giant to pay $18 billion in damages for polluting the Amazon River basin more than 20 years ago.

The San Ramon, California-based company said in a statement that it is seeking the waiver of a bond required to suspend enforcement of the judgment during the pendency of the appeal.

Along with the appeal seeking suspension of the lower court judgement, Chevron is required to post a bond  of around around 8 per cent of the $18-billion damages awarded, which is around $1.5 billion, but Chevron, as usual in this case, believes that it is above the law in Ecuador and is seeking a waiver claiming that the bond requirement should not be applied to it, although it is mandatory for every other litigant in the country.

Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for the plaintiffs' yesterday said that Chevron "seeks special treatment not afforded any other litigant under Ecuadorian law. Chevron's request that a bond requirement be waived would force the Ecuador appellate court to violate laws protecting the winning side in any litigation from further attempts by the loser to delay the proceedings and cause further harm."

Chevron Corp's bid to get an $18-billion judgment against it overturned, came a cropper as an Ecuador appeals court early this month rejected its appeal. The ''adverse ruling'' upholding the lower-court judgment was issued by a panel of three judges in the Provincial Court of justice of Sucumbios in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.

Chevron went into appeal against a ruling that held it responsible for chemical-laden wastewater dumped in jungle land from 1964 to about 1992 by Texaco Inc, which Chevron acquired in 2001.