"Chevron Wins Halt to $18 Billion Judgment in Ecuador Pollution Case"

"In a New York courtroom today, oil giant Chevron Corp. won a halt to enforcement of an $18 billion judgment for oil pollution of the Ecuadorian Amazon imposed by a court in Ecuador.

Granting Chevron's request for a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in Manhattan that Chevron faced 'imminent' and 'irreparable' harm to its reputation and business relationships.

'There is a significant risk that assets would be seized or attached, thus disrupting Chevron's supply chain, causing it to miss critical deliveries to business partners,' Judge Kaplan wrote.

The judge ruled that the judgment won by Ecuadorean indigenous plaintiffs could not be enforced until Chevron's racketeering case against the Ecuadoreans and their lawyers is decided. "

Environment News Service had the story March 7, 2011.