Thanks for the comment, Alessandro! An endlessly fascinating case, to be sure. Technicalities aside, what equity and justice require depends, I suppose, on what one thinks of the merits of the claims of fraud.

Bottom line is that Chevron is actually pursuing absolute immunity from jurisdiction. In the first place they moved to the New York district court seeking the dismissal of the Lago Agrio plaintiffs’ action on grounds of lack of jurisdiction.

And then, when the competent Ecuadorian court passed judgment on the merits of the environmental damaged caused, Chevron moved again to New York courts to frame plaintiffs and the Ecuadorian government alike with fraud and racketeering under RICO. Meantime, Chevron moved to an ICSID arbitration panel seeking a kind of “Worlwide Mareva Injuction” ultimately preventing the Lago Agrio’s plaintiffs from enforcing the Ecuadorian judgment in any jurisdiction.

A perfect strategy for Chevron to escape liability for the environmental damage caused. Equity and justice, however, call for a different outcome.