Chevron Corp. (CVX), which is defending itself against allegations that it is responsible for environmental and social harms in the Oriente region of Ecuador, Wednesday said the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has stayed an action initiated by a group of Ecuadorian plaintiffs who sought to have a $19 billion judgment of an Ecuadorian court against the energy giant enforced in Ontario.
The court said the Ontario Superior court was not the place to take the case. It has to be taken elsewhere where recognition of the Ecuadorean judgment would have a practical effect.
Chevron and people of the Lago Agrio region in Ecuador have been fighting a legal battle for the past few years. The people claim that Texaco, a company Chevron bought in 2001, did environmental damage to the area between 1964 and 1992.
The judge said, ''The plaintiffs have no hope of success in their assertion that the corporate veil of Chevron Canada should be pierced and ignored so that its assets become exigible to satisfy a judgment against its ultimate parent. There is no basis in law or fact for such a claim.''
''… Ontario courts should be reluctant to dedicate their resources to disputes where, in dollar and cents terms, there is nothing to fight over. In my view, the parties should take their fight elsewhere to some jurisdiction where any ultimate recognition of the Ecuadorean judgment will have a practical effect."
Chevron said it is pleased with the decision from Justice Brown. "The plaintiffs should be seeking enforcement in the United States - where Chevron Corporation resides. In the U.S., however, they would be confronted by the fact that eight federal courts have already found the Ecuador trial tainted by fraud," the energy giant said.
The stock closed down 1.4 percent on Wednesday at $120.27.
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