SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - An international tribunal
ruled that Ecuador must pay Chevron Corp $96 million in
connection with claims made in Ecuadorean courts in the early
1990s.
The claims were unrelated to an $18 billion judgment
rendered against Chevron by an Ecuadorean court earlier this
year.
An international arbitration tribunal found on Wednesday
that Ecuador's courts violated international law through their
delays in ruling on commercial disputes between Texaco, which
was bought by Chevron, and Ecuador's government.
"This ruling confirms that Ecuador can be held accountable
for its obligations under international law," Chevron's general
counsel, Hewitt Pate, said in a statement.
"Since Ecuador's politicized court system has failed to
provide impartial tribunals and due process, Chevron has had to
seek international remedies," he added.
The final award takes into account taxes, compound interest
and costs associated with a preliminary award announced in
March 2010.
Ecuador's ombudsman, Diego Garcia, said the country's
government would try to nullify the ruling.
"We'll start a legal action again against this ruling,
which derives from powers that Ecuador has contested from the
beginning," he told reporters.
The decision by the tribunal, administered by the Permanent
Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, resolved seven claims
Texaco filed in Ecuador between 1991 and 1993. The tribunal
determined that the court delays violated Ecuador's obligation
under a Bilateral Investment Treaty with the United States.
That treaty was also the basis for a claim Chevron made
about Ecuador's judicial independence in its long-running
dispute over pollution in the country resulting from two
decades of drilling there prior to Texaco's departure in 1992.
Arbitrators, working under the PCA, in February ordered
Ecuador to suspend enforcement of any judgment related to that
case -- just days before a court in Lago Agrio issued its
multibillion-dollar verdict against Chevron.
In September, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals is expected
to rule on a racketeering case brought by San Ramon,
California-based Chevron against the Ecuadorean plaintiffs in
the pollution litigation. The racketeering case is due to begin
in New York in November.
The U.S. federal judge hearing it has noted that the
damages have more than doubled to about $18 billion from $8.6
billion originally because Chevron did not make a public
apology, and when a payment to the Amazon Defense Front is
included.
The case on appeal is Chevron Corp v. Mendoza et al, 2nd
Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 11-1150.
For Chevron: Scott Edelman, Kristen Hendricks, Randy
Mastro, Andrea Neuman and William Thomson of Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher.
For the defendants: James Tyrrell of Patton Boggs; Julio
Gomez of Gomez LLC; Carlos Zelaya of F. Gerald Maples; Eliot
Peters, John Keker and Jan Little of Keker & Van Nest.
(Reporting by Braden Reddall; Additional reporting by
Alexandra Valencia)
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