Chevron hopes to benefit from Ecuador’s dismissal of judge

Oil company Chevron on Friday said it hopes the dismissal of the Ecuadorean judge who issued an $18 billion ruling against the U.S. firm for polluting the Amazon will dissuade foreign courts from enforcing the sentence. Two Ecuadorean judges involved in levying one of the largest verdicts ever for environmental damages worldwide were sanctioned over an unrelated drug case, but Chevron hopes their removal from the bench will help them win legal battles against the fine in both Ecuador and the United States. Judges Nicolas Zambrano and Leonardo Ordonez were dismissed in late February from their posts for releasing a suspected drug trafficker in an act of “obvious negligence or an inexcusable mistake,” the country’s judicial watchdog said on Thursday. Read Article