Reviewing a landmark rainforest-pollution judgment against Chevron, a three-judge panel of Ecuador’s National Court of Justice this month upheld a provincial court’s finding against the oil giant but cut the damages nearly in half, lowering them from US$19 billion to $9.51 billion. The original judgment, rendered by Sucumbíos provincial court on Feb. 14, 2011, docked Chevron $9.6 billion in environmental and other damages. Punitive damages were then added, boosting the award to $19 billion, when Chevron failed to meet a court deadline for apologizing publicly. In this month’s National Court of Justice ruling, issued on Nov. 13, judges Wilson Andino, Paulina Aguirre and Eduardo Bermúdez decided a cassation appeal in which Chevron sought to throw out the provincial court’s judgment. Though they... [Log in to read more]