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Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

theintercept.com

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Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#21

Post by ptah »

darawk wrote: post #18
ptah wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

those treaties are despicable. to receive US aid you have to essentially give carte blanche to US corporations to raid and rape your country and its people as they please. EDIT: essentially the hague court is enforcing the heinous practice of forcing the prioritization of corporate profits over country's sovereignty, and the wellbeing of its citizenry and envrionment

It seems like you are confusing some things. The Hague is enforcing international law - which is its purpose. The treaties were entered into by fully competent governments. These aren't uneducated minors being pressured into a deal they don't understand. They're national governments.

> pressured into a deal they don't understand

you would be surprised as to how many people would assume that they would still be able to hold a corporation to account if they completely make a country unlivable and kill citizens. these treaties are morally wrong and make it legal for corporations to destroy the habitibility of a piece of land and kill its inhabitants if it is profitable to them

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#22

Post by Haga »

darawk wrote: post #18
ptah wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

those treaties are despicable. to receive US aid you have to essentially give carte blanche to US corporations to raid and rape your country and its people as they please. EDIT: essentially the hague court is enforcing the heinous practice of forcing the prioritization of corporate profits over country's sovereignty, and the wellbeing of its citizenry and envrionment

It seems like you are confusing some things. The Hague is enforcing international law - which is its purpose. The treaties were entered into by fully competent governments. These aren't uneducated minors being pressured into a deal they don't understand. They're national governments.

Bribed and bullied like minors.

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#23

Post by hfyugrty »

mapcars wrote: post #13
oefrha wrote: post #11

> Even though the ruling was subsequently upheld by the Ecuadorian Supreme Court, Chevron immediately made clear that it would not be paying the judgment. Instead, Chevron moved its assets out of the country, making it impossible for the Ecuadorians to collect. WTF? A nation state couldn’t have seized the assets? It seems that multinational megacorps are truly more powerful than and above the law in small countries t…

>megacorps are truly more powerful than and above the law in small countries these days. Why in small countries? They do what they want in America too.

Wow, you really opened my eyes with this comment. Thanks stranger! I'd never considered thinking like an edgelord before.

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#24

Post by Clomez »

hfyugrty wrote: post #23
mapcars wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>megacorps are truly more powerful than and above the law in small countries these days. Why in small countries? They do what they want in America too.

Wow, you really opened my eyes with this comment. Thanks stranger! I'd never considered thinking like an edgelord before.

Cmoon, it's proper point, we are pretty much F*cked everywhere...

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#25

Post by verbify »

hfyugrty wrote: post #23
mapcars wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>megacorps are truly more powerful than and above the law in small countries these days. Why in small countries? They do what they want in America too.

Wow, you really opened my eyes with this comment. Thanks stranger! I'd never considered thinking like an edgelord before.

I believe this comment goes against hacker news guidelines - "Be kind. Don't be snarky"

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#26

Post by slavik81 »

Thorrez wrote: post #4

One thing I'm confused about is why he's charged with criminal contempt. > To Donziger, who had already endured 19 days of depositions and given Chevron large portions of his case file, the request was beyond the pale, and he appealed it on the grounds that it would require him to violate his commitments to his clients. Still, Donziger said he’d turn over the devices if he lost the appeal. He said he would obey the o…

He lost the appeal. From Wikipedia:

> In March 2014, a United States district court judge ruled that the Ecuadorian plaintiff's lead US attorney, Steven Donziger, had used "corrupt means," including payment of almost US$300,000 in bribes, to obtain the 2011 court verdict in Ecuador. The judge did not rule on the underlying issue of environmental damages. While the US ruling does not affect the decision of the court in Ecuador, it has blocked efforts to collect damages from Chevron in US courts.[55][56] Donziger and the two Ecuadorian defendants appealed, and on August 8, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment against them in all respects.

When he turned over the documents, it revealed "that the 2009 environmental report signed by a court-appointed expert had largely been written by an environmental consultancy company hired by the plaintiffs."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_Agrio_oil_field

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#27

Post by darawk »

ptah wrote: post #21
darawk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like you are confusing some things. The Hague is enforcing international law - which is its purpose. The treaties were entered into by fully competent governments. These aren't uneducated minors being pressured into a deal they don't understand. They're national governments.

> pressured into a deal they don't understand you would be surprised as to how many people would assume that they would still be able to hold a corporation to account if they completely make a country unlivable and kill citizens. these treaties are morally wrong and make it legal for corporations to destroy the habitibility of a piece of land and kill its inhabitants if it is profitable to them

> you would be surprised as to how many people would assume that they would still be able to hold a corporation to account if they completely make a country unlivable and kill citizens. these treaties are morally wrong and make it legal for corporations to destroy the habitibility of a piece of land and kill its inhabitants if it is profitable to them

I'm not aware of any provisions in these treaties that permit killing.

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#28

Post by robochat42 »

darawk wrote: post #16

On the one hand, this sounds bad for Chevron. On the other hand, what is the probability that corruption happened in an Ecuadorian court vs a US court? It seems to me somewhat more likely that the Ecuadorian court was corrupt here, than that Chevron managed to influence a US judge to this degree. Of note, he could simply turn over his phone and this would end. There is no assertion here that he is protecting some wit…

Think about it from the lawyer's point of view. If the story is article is accurate then someone has a vendetta against him. Someone has already spent a lot of money on an Ecuadorian judge to fabricate evidence against him. Now they want his phone and computer. Who knows what they could 'find' on them.

Even if the truth is more murky than presented in this article. He may have needed to contact shady people as part of his work and this could clearly be used to smear him.

Of course, the article could be a gross misrepresentation of the truth but a quick google search reveals that the feud between Chevron and Donziger has been widely reported and lasted more than 20 years. The fact that he is unwilling to hand over his phone is just the latest salvo in a long battle.

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#29

Post by slavik81 »

Keverw wrote: post #7

Wow this sounds crazy. He won a lawsuit in Ecuador, so the company got a judge in Manhattan New York to put him on house arrest? Isn't that overstepping their jurisdiction and abuse of power? Seems like a huge miscarriage of justice. Didn't even know this was possible unless there's something I'm missing here? Sounds like someone is acting out of bounds here.

I have a hard time believing that the New York Bar suspended him for winning a lawsuit.

Re: Environmental lawyer who won a judgment against Chevron lost everything

#30

Post by jacobush »

xbmcuser wrote: post #17
mapcars wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Ecuadorians? This is American company destroying other countries.

Stuff like this is the reason when the west cries about China silk road initiative most of the countries don't care as Western countries have been exploiting their resources for years what difference does it make if China does it.

Well, if China can exploit one more person, it makes a difference to that person.
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