Prior to its merger with Chevron in 2001, Texaco was involved in controversial legal proceedings related to its activities in Ecuador between 1969 and 1990. In May 2003, attorneys representing 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorians filed suit against Chevron seeking to collect $1 billion in damages for oil pollution in Ecuadorian forests and rivers 30 years before. The case went to trial in an Ecuadorian court in October 2003, and was pending as of March 2006.

Attorneys for Ecuadorian indigenous peoples appealed a May 2001 decision by a federal judge in New York to dismiss attempts to sue Texaco in U.S. courts. The U.S. courts determined that Ecuador was the appropriate jurisdiction. In August 2002, a U.S. federal appeals court upheld the May 2001 dismissal. Nevertheless, the appeals court ruling allowed that a verdict against the company reached in an Ecuadorian court would be enforced in the U.S. Legal action was originally brought in November 1993 by representatives of Ecuadorian indigenous communities and settlers from eastern Ecuador. The plaintiffs included 100 residents of Ecuador and nearby Peru.

The suit alleged that between 1969 and 1990 the company was responsible for practicing extensive deforestation, depriving local communities of land, contaminating rivers with oil spills and production waste, and polluting the atmosphere by burning off gas. In October 1998, a federal appeals court reinstated the suit against Texaco in a New York federal court after it had been dismissed a first time.

Last week, Reuters reported that Chevron was complaining that it was getting an “unfair trial” in Ecuador. A Chevron lawyer stated: “We will not hesitate to go to international tribunals to review what we believe is an unfair trial and lack of due process in this country.”

Ironically, back in 2002 ChevronTexaco insisted that the case belonged in Ecuador, not in the U.S. Here’s a passage from a company press release from 2002:

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19, 2002 — ChevronTexaco today issued the following statement regarding the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decision on Aug. 16 affirming the District Court’s decision to dismiss the Aguinda v Texaco, Inc. and Jota v Texaco, Inc. litigation:

“ChevronTexaco is pleased with the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals affirming the lower court’s dismissal of these claims and ruling that the cases brought by these plaintiffs do not belong in the U.S. judicial system.

“This ruling vindicates ChevronTexaco’s long-standing position and the arguments we have made to the court: The appropriate forum for this litigation is Ecuador because the plaintiffs are in Ecuador, the operations were in Ecuador, the state oil company — with which the Texaco subsidiary was a minority partner, and which continues to operate the oil fields today — is in Ecuador. The evidence is in Ecuador; and the remedies sought by plaintiffs can only be obtained in Ecuador.”

KLD will be following the case with interest.