Oil giant Chevron Corp. yesterday launched a new legal strategy in its effort to combat a multibillion-dollar judgment entered against it by an Ecuadorean court.

The company is desperate to stop the American lawyers who represent the indigenous Ecuadorean plaintiffs from seeking to enforce the February judgment, which could be worth up to $18 billion. Chevron claims the judgment is fraudulent and has filed a racketeering lawsuit against the plaintiffs' legal team.

The Ecuadorean judge found Chevron liable for oil contamination caused by Texaco Petroleum Co. when it operated in the Andean nation from the 1960s to the 1990s. Chevron later acquired Texaco.

Most recently, Chevron suffered a setback when the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction that prevented the plaintiffs from enforcing the judgment while a federal judge in the Southern District of New York considered whether the ruling should be recognized by U.S. courts (Greenwire, Sept. 20).

Legal activity has largely moved to U.S. courts because -- as Chevron has no assets in Ecuador -- the plaintiffs have to enforce the ruling elsewhere.

Chevron is now seeking a "prejudgment attachment" of the plaintiffs' assets in the racketeering case, filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (known as RICO).

If successful, the strategy could have the same impact as the injunction because the main "asset" Chevron is targeting is the Ecuadorean court judgment itself. The plaintiffs would be prevented from selling stakes in the judgment to outside investors that are funding the litigation.

Chevron said in its court filing that the plaintiffs are now "scheming to enforce the fraudulent ... judgment in foreign jurisdictions where they, their counsel and other coconspirators have influence."

The attachment of assets is warranted because "Chevron is likely to prevail on its RICO, fraud and other common law claims," the filing added.

Karen Hinton, a spokesman for the plaintiffs described the motion as a "futile and baseless legal filing" that is "yet another sign of Chevron's increasing desperation after losing multiple legal battles in both U.S. and Ecuador courts over its destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador."

Robert Percival, an environmental law professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, said Chevron's latest move appears to be "an effort to do an end run around the 2nd Circuit's dissolution of the trial judge's global injunction."

The latest development reinforces his belief that "the RICO suit ultimately is but a bargaining chip to help Chevron win a more favorable settlement from the plaintiffs."

Click here to read the E&E special report on the litigation.