Right Out of Kafka: Chevron Sues the Individuals It Harmed With Its Pollution

For a long time Chevron had been dumping toxic waste into waterways of the Amazon, causing great harm to the rainforest. After years of litigation, an Ecuadorian court imposed a judgment of over $17 billion against the oil company for their wanton pollution practices. Now here is the Kafka part of the story. Instead of paying the judgment, Chevron sued more than 50 individuals involved in the original lawsuit.

            I understand that Chevron would want to keep themselves out of a courtroom and wouldn’t want to pay the plaintiffs in this case. But this move to sue the plaintiffs is thuggish.

The company is claiming that, despite their wrongdoing, Chevron is the victim of a conspiracy among lawyers, environmental activists, and journalists. Even more bizarre, in their suit against the plaintiffs a judge in New York has granted Chevron access to the emails of the plaintiffs. For anyone involved in any sort of environmental work or any sort of activism, this is quite chilling.