Chevron Wants New Trial, Says Juror Tainted $120 Million Verdict

A Chevron Corp. subsidiary argued before a panel of California appeals judges Friday that a $120 million verdict against the company should be tossed because one of the jurors failed to disclose a prior conviction for child molestation.

The juror’s concealment of his prior conviction was a bad faith action, and bad faith shows bias, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP’s Theodore Boutrous Jr. argued for Chevron.

However, the judges were skeptical of this argument.

“Didn’t the judge say he didn’t disclose due to embarrassment?” asked Associate Justice Donald R. Franson, causing Boutrous to remind Franson that he ruled “embarrassment is ...