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Est. April 5, 2002
 
           
July 29, 2021 - Issue 876
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There’s a classic one-panel cartoon that sums up the case against environmental attorney Steven Donziger, who represents about 30,000 people in the Ecuadorean rainforest that was poisoned by Texaco/Chevron in their exploration and extraction of oil from the fragile land and was found in contempt of court this week in New York.

The cartoon is a simple line drawing of a small fish, who says to himself, “There is no justice.” Just behind him is a larger fish, about to eat the smaller fish, who says to himself, “There is some justice.” And, just behind the second fish, mouth wide open, about to eat both smaller fish and probably anything else that presents itself, is a big fish, who says to himself, “The world is just.”

The small fish is Donziger and the people of the Amazon forest, some 30,000 of them, and the biggest fish represents Chevron, the U.S. court system, and all of the money that can be brought to bear on anyone who dares to challenge them in their quest for profit, while leaving sickness and death in their wake, as they did in their portion of Ecuador. It is probably the best (and worst) example of a SLAPP suit as can be found in the American legal lexicon. A SLAPP suit is Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation and is usually used by a rich and powerful entity (like Chevron) against a single individual or group of individuals with little power and no money (like the Ecuadoreans in this case).

In Donziger’s case, it’s a SLAPP suit on steroids. It’s as if the entire fossil fuel industry used a giant magnifying glass to burn a single ant, Donziger, to cinders. So far, it has worked according to plan and the U.S. judicial system, this time in the form of the courts of New York State, has shown that it really is not wise to try to upset that system by injecting a modicum of justice into it. And that seems to be the intent of the whole legal Rube Goldberg operation that this case has turned out to be.

Judge Loretta Preska, in a 245-page decision, found Donziger guilty of six counts of criminal contempt by not giving up to the court and, by process, to Chevron, his phone, computer, and other electronic devices. Chevron, apparently believing that a quicker route to silencing Donziger and any other environmentalists who might be inclined to sue for damages caused by the company’s operations, sued the lawyer under the RICO statutes. That’s right, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. Chevron sued Donziger and the people of the Amazon for racketeering. In the lengthy paper, Preska admitted that the decision had nothing to do with the environmental destruction caused by the company in Ecuador, but was only addressed to Donziger’s conduct and his long court struggle against a giant corporation.

This case has gone through many manifestations, starting with a lawsuit in Ecuador nearly two decades ago. The highest court there ruled that Chevron must pay $9.5 billion to the people whose home forests, livelihoods, and lives were damaged or destroyed by the oil company’s operations. Rather than pay up, Chevron filed suit against Donziger in New York, including a civil suit under the RICO Act, and the case rolled on. Initially, the New York case was presided over by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan who, in 2014, found in favor of Chevron in a nearly 500-page ruling against Donziger that eventually led to his disbarment. It kind of minimizes Preska’s little 245-page ruling.

Although it may have little to do with the latest ruling, Preska is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, which is partially funded by Chevron. Also, as Donziger noted, her interest in the case, also held without a jury like the first one, was illustrated by her reading a newspaper during the trial.

In both cases, Donziger requested a trial by jury and in both cases, that request was denied. That has resulted in a lawyer with no criminal record having been held under house arrest for 650 days on a misdemeanor charge. Legal experts have noted that the condition of his house arrest is unprecedented, and his disbarment resulting from the case is no small matter of routine. He has been singled out for punishment even before sentencing and now, he faces a sentence of up to six months in prison in the matter.

On Twitter on Monday, Donziger wrote, “No matter what they say, my ‘conviction’ today has everything to do with @Chevron’s destruction of the Amazon. They want to label me ‘criminal’ so people forget the real criminals who poisoned the forest and drove 5 Indigenous nations toward extinction.”

Donziger was part of a team that took up the case of the people of Ecuador’s Lago Agrio region, who were attempting to hold Chevron liable for water and soil contamination in the jungle between 1964 and 1992. Chevron became involved because in 2000 it bought Texaco, which did the original damage. Never, however, think that Chevron would hesitate to do the same thing to the land, water, and the people if they had been there first. It’s in the DNA of transnational corporations.

At a time when life on Earth is threatened by disruptions of natural systems without end, like the destruction of the local environment for 30,000 Ecuadoreans, the U.S. judicial system plays games with those involved in trying to mitigate the damage by using the letter of the law and the obfuscation of legal language without end to ignore the crimes of the powerful. There is little doubt among the supporters of Steven Donziger that the aim of the entire sham of legal proceedings against him has been to ignore the crimes committed on a massive scale by the likes of Texaco and Chevron against fragile human societies and local ecosystems.

The Donziger case is a warning for any environmentalist or would-be environmentalist that if it’s going to be a contest between Corporate America, its politicians, and its judicial system and you, you had better be prepared to be treated like Donziger. There are few places in the nation, or the world for that matter, that will provide safe haven for those who challenge their power, which is almost without end. The only thing that will ever successfully challenge that immense power is the unity of the people, acting together. It’s difficult to imagine that and even more difficult to achieve, but that’s what is needed. The power of the Chevrons of the world will continue as in this case, until the people join together...and act.

About four hundred years ago, someone noted the vagaries of the justice system and observed, it was I believe in the dialogue of a play, “The law is an ass” (George Chapman, Revenge for Honour, 1654). Donkeys do not deserve the slander that this phrase issues, but, according to a modern analysis, “It is the stupidly rigid application of the law that this phrase calls into question.”

Because the Chevron fiasco does not for a second consider the crimes committed in Ecuador and instead brutalized the messenger, the law in the federal court in New York is, indeed, an ass.


BlackCommentator.com Columnist, John Funiciello, is a former newspaper reporter and labor organizer, who lives in the Mohawk Valley of New York State. In addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure from factory food producers and land developers. Contact Mr. Funiciello and BC.

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is published Thursday
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA
Publisher:
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