Nigerian Times

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan Judge Lewis A. Kaplan continues to slide in Chevron's farcical "declaratory judgment" trial currently scheduled for November 14, 2011. We have provided the copies of two important motions that were filed in the SDNY before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. The motions demonstrate how Judge Kaplan is failing to provide a fair trial which comports with basic notions of due process or fairness. The first motion, filed by the Ecuadorian plaintiffs who recently won an $18.2 billion judgment against Chevron for systematically poisoning Ecuador's Amazon, systematically demonstrates how Judge Kaplan's expedited schedule for the trial is not only "unfair to the Ecuadorian plaintiffs but would also not be consistent with procedures compatible with due process." The motion asks Judge Kaplan to continue the trial so that the Ecuadorian plaintiffs will have a reasonable amount of time to prepare a proper defense to Chevron's baseless allegat...

International Law Scholars Say Attempt by U.S. Judge to Block $18 Billion Court Judgment Against Chevron “Unlawful” and “Futile” Scholars Ask Appellate Court to Dissolve Order of Judge Lewis A. Kaplan New York, New York (June 13, 2011) – A group of 16 international law scholars have asked a federal appeals court in New York to overturn what they say is a U.S. trial court’s “futile” and unlawful injunction that purports to prohibit foreign citizens from Ecuador from collecting an $18 billion judgment against Chevron in courts around the world. The scholars described the injunction, issued by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, as a “futile act” that “is much more likely to antagonize the courts of other states” than be treated as persuasive authority, as Kaplan has claimed. They also described the injunction as “breathtaking in its attempts to arrogate a world-wide and exclusive jurisdiction in this case” to a U.S. court without any legal authority to back it up. The scholars filed an amicus brie...