Chevron to Stand Trial In California on Pattern of Human Rights Abuses in Nigeria

San Francisco, CA - San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy ruled yesterday that a human rights lawsuit against Chevron Corporation, charging that the oil company is guilty of, and continues to engage in, a practice of abetting human rights abuses against protestors and others in Nigeria, will go to trial.  Judge McCarthy rejected Chevron's last attempts to dismiss the suit, which alleges violations of California's unfair competition law (UCL).

As Judge McCarthy himself noted, the plaintiffs evidence showed that "simply residing in the vicinity of Chevron installations in the Niger Delta can subject residents, even those who do not initiate contact with Chevron, to losses of property and other abuses."  The case arises primarily out of two incidents in 1998 and 1999, where Nigerian soldiers assisted by Chevron attacked and killed at least six Nigerian villagers, and burned two villages; further incidents of violence have continued to recur in recent years.

Plaintiffs' counsel Theresa Traber of Traber & Voorhees and Barbara Hadsell of Hadsell, Stormer, Keeny, Richardson and Renick (HSKRR) hailed the Courts recent rulings as the "latest in a string of victories by impoverished Nigerian villagers against one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world.  Chevron cannot hide from the consequences of using the brutal Nigerian military to stamp out dissent."

The Superior Court issued two orders, rejecting Chevron's argument that the UCL does not apply to abuses outside California, and finding that the Court did have the power to remedy the Nigerian villagers' harms.  In this suit, the plaintiffs are primarily seeking an injunction to prevent further abuses; the plaintiffs are also seeking damages in a parallel lawsuit in federal court, which, under Judge Susan Illston, is also proceeding to trial later this year.

"Over the past few years, Chevron has filed over a dozen motions seeking to dismiss all or part of these lawsuits.  With these orders, its efforts to avoid accountability for its practices have definitely failed," said Marco Simons, Legal Director of EarthRights International.

The California case, filed in February 2003, is Bowoto v. Chevron Corp., No. 99-2506; it has recently been transferred to Judge Harold E. Kahn and, although trial is currently set for August 2008, it will likely rescheduled in a hearing on February 29, 2008.  In addition to ERI, HSKRR, and Traber & Voorhees, the plaintiffs are represented by several law firms including Siegel & Yee, Paul Hoffman, Michael Sorgen, Robert Newman, Anthony DiCaprio, and Richard Wiebe; as well as the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

> > Click here to read the full text of Judge McCarthy's orders. 

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