Lago Agrio aficionados, it’s been a while! Nothing much has happened in a long time. Yesterday, the Second Circuit decided several of the appeals that Steven Donziger had taken from Judge Kaplan’s decisions. Here is the latest.
Tagged: Lago Agrio
Victories have been few and far between for Steven Donziger, and (for reasons I’ve given) probably rightly so. But there is one aspect of the civil contempt finding against Donziger that I’ve previously written was probably wrong. Donziger appealed from that aspect of the contempt finding and argued the appeal pro se this week, and I think he’s right about it. The issue is whether Judge Kaplan, who issued an injunction and letter clarified it, prohibited Donziger from receiving pay from interests in the Lago Agrio judgment that he helped his clients to sell in order to finance their litigation. As I read the record, Judge Kaplan construed his own injunction in such a way that I think Donizger reasonably understood that he could…
Tagged: Lago Agrio
Steven Donziger’s career as a lawyer has come to an end. A New York court yesterday disbarred him. This result will not surprise longtime Letters Blogatory readers. Although the referee who conducted the hearing was clearly sympathetic to Donziger, the law was clear: the facts that Judge Kaplan found had preclusive effect and could not be relitigated. And on those facts (or facts′), which included bribery of a judge and falsification of an expert report, disbarment was clearly the right sanction. Here is the key line from the per curiam decision: “Respondent has been found guilty of egregious professional misconduct, namely, corruption of a court expert and ghostwriting his report, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and judicial coercion and bribery which he steadfastly refuses…
Tagged: Lago Agrio