[rayiner]

This article is obscenely misleading. Skip the narrative, and go straight to the 500 page Southern District of New York opinion finding that Donzinger procured the Ecuador judgment through extortion and fraud: http://www.theamazonpost.com/wp-content/uploads/Chevron-Ecua...

> Upon consideration of all of the evidence, including the credibility of the witnesses – though several of the most important declined to testify – the Court finds that Donziger began his involvement in this controversy with a desire to improve conditions in the area in which his Ecuadorian clients live. To be sure, he sought also to do well for himself while doing good for others, but there was nothing wrong with that. In the end, however, he and the Ecuadorian lawyers he led corrupted the Lago Agrio case. They submitted fraudulent evidence. They coerced one judge, first to use a court-appointed, supposedly impartial, “global expert” to make an overall damages assessment and, then, to appoint to that important role a man whom Donziger hand-picked and paid to “totally play ball” with the LAPs. They then paid a Colorado consulting firm secretly to write all or most of the global expert’s report, falsely presented the report as the work of the court-appointed and supposedly impartial expert, and told half-truths or worse to U.S. courts in attempts to prevent exposure of that and other wrongdoing. Ultimately, the LAP team wrote the Lago Agrio court’s Judgment themselves and promised $500,000 to the Ecuadorian judge to rule in their favor and sign their judgment. If ever there were a case warranting equitable relief with respect to a judgment procured by fraud, this is it.

Subsequently, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague found that the Chevron judgment was procured by fraud and should not be enforced: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkrauss/2019/04/14/dutch-...

> And last week, on April 12, 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision. Last week's decision means that the five arbitral awards are no longer subject to challenge. This includes the BIT Tribunal's interim awards ordering Ecuador to “take all measures necessary” to prevent or suspend enforcement of the Lago Agrio Judgment worldwide and declaring Ecuador in breach of international law for having failed to voluntarily do so.

[34679]

The PDF you linked was written by Judge Kaplan, the one detailed in this article.

"Skip the narrative and go straight to".. the opinion of a single judge whom evidence suggests is biased in favor of Chevron.

[rayiner]

> "Skip the narrative and go straight to".. the opinion of a single judge whom evidence suggests is biased in favor of Chevron.

There is zero evidence suggesting he is "biased in favor of Chevron." Donzinger's self-serving assertions are not evidence. Donzinger has repeatedly petitioned the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the appellate court that oversees the trial court here, to have the judge recused. The Second Circuit has repeatedly rejected those requests. And the Second Circuit, through a panel of three judges, affirmed the order I linked to: https://fcpablog.com/2016/08/11/second-circuit-upholds-rico-...

[34679]

>"Kaplan has a soft spot for Chevron, which the judge once described as “a company of considerable importance to our economy that employs thousands all over the world, that supplies a group of commodities, gasoline, heating oil, other fuels, and lubricants on which every one of us depends every single day.”

[rayiner]

That's literally just a factual description of what Chevron is.

[34679]

Chevron is not the only producer of petroleum products in the world and not every person in the world relies on Chevron's products every single day. It's absurd to call that statement factual.

[rayiner]

As a simple matter of grammar, that's not what he's saying. He says that Chevron is a manufacturer of a "group of commodities" that "on which every one of us depends every single day." The sentence means that people rely on the group of commodities, of which Chevron is one producer.

[thomasfortes]

A bit of a biased source don't you think? The website was created by chevron to serve as chevron propaganda, it would not surprise me to find tons of articles defending their point of view, they don't even try to hide it, the headline of the home is "Chevron's Views And Opinions On The Ecuador Lawsuit".

[rayiner]

My link goes to the actual court filing. That's just the first copy of the PDF that comes up on Google.

[tptacek]

Wow, this is a hell of a find.

[e12e]

Right, it's linked from the intercept article:

> Chevron has hired private investigators to track Donziger, created a publication[1] to smear him, and put together a legal team of hundreds of lawyers from 60 firms, who have successfully pursued an extraordinary campaign against him.

[1] this is a link to the Amazonpost.com.

So,is it really set up and run by Chevron for the purpose of discrediting?

[tptacek]

It's a link to the court documents, not to whatever this site is.

[e12e]

It's a link to the court documents, hosted at that site.

www.theamazonpost.com/wp-content/uploads/Chevron-Ecuador-Opinion-3.4.14.pdf

I'm not saying the documents aren't legit (I don't know). But it's clearly a link to that site.

[heartbreak]

Agreed. The suggested source, http://theamazonpost.com, is like something out of a nightmare. Really puts into perspective the angle provided by The Intercept.

(Yes the link goes to a court opinion, just remarking on the host itself.)

[e12e]

Note that the intercept article links to theamazonpost as an example of stuf Chevron did to discredit the lawyer - that is setting up the site/publication (see my sibling comment).