Arbitration Panel Sides With Chevron, Tells Ecuador to Block $18 Billion Judgment

An international panel of arbitrators at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague issued a decision Feb. 16 ordering Ecuador not to recognize or enforce an $18 billion environmental judgment that Chevron considers fraudulent (In re: Chevron Corp. and Republic of Ecuador).

Following a Feb. 11 hearing in Washington, D.C., the three-member arbitration panel ruled that Ecuador should take “all measures necessary” to suspend enforcement of the judgment obtained by the group known as the Lago Agrio plaintiffs.

The tribunal, convened under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), considered Chevron’s claims that the Republic of Ecuador breached ...