Chevron struck another blow in its campaign to undermine a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment it faces in Ecuador. Under tremendous pressure from the oil company, Patton Boggs, the powerful Washington law firm that once vowed to assure the enforcement of the Ecuadorian judgment, instead withdrew today from the case.
In an extraordinary concession, Patton Boggs said it regretted its prior involvement in a lawsuit against Chevron (CVX), a legal action deemed by a federal judge in New York to have evolved into an extortion scheme aimed at the San Ramon (Calif.) oil company. Patton Boggs also agreed to provide Chevron with supportive documents and testimony and to pay the company $15 million as a tangible symbol of its abasement.
Ain’t that just swell?