A Hard Look at NOW's Support for Chevron In Ecuador Case Raises Ethical Concerns

NOW’s Elaine Wood Questioned About Failure to Tell Appellate Court About Her Business Ties to Chevron 

The relationship between the National Organization for Women ("NOW") and Chevron in the Ecuador pollution case is getting even more interesting. (For background, see this press release where Ecuadorian women criticized NOW and this blog for context.)

Figuring out why NOW's legal arm (called “Legal Momentum”) weighed in before a federal appellate court on behalf of Chevron’s targeting of indigenous villagers and their lawyers in Ecuador is the question. We think we are getting close to the answer.  

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Chevron Paying Big Bucks to NOW and Others for "Friend of the Court" Briefs In Ecuador Case

U.S. Women's Advocates Cash Chevron Checks and Then Abandon Indigenous Women In Ecuador. Is It Worth It?

Increasingly isolated in its Ecuador pollution case, Chevron is paying for "friend of the court" briefs by supposedly independent parties such as the National Organization for Women ("NOW") that are designed to back the company's faltering defense to its $9.5 billion environmental liability.

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Chevron Lawyer Randy Mastro Resorts to Dirty Tricks In Ecuador Pollution Case

Chevron lawyer Randy Mastro again appears to be engaging in dirty tricks in a last-ditch effort to rescue the oil company from its worsening legal troubles related to its $9.5 billion liability in Ecuador.

Through backdoor manuevering, Mastro is trying to influence the New York federal appellate court that is hearing Chevron's defense of its ill-fated RICO case.

We hear from a little birdie that Mastro's latest trick involves an apparent unauthorized ex parte contact by his office with a clerk in the appellate court. Mastro's goal was to convince the clerk to change the caption of the RICO case on appeal to produce a more favorable review panel for Chevron.

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Chevron Faces Risk of "Spectacular Implosion" In Ecuador Pollution Case

One of Chevron's many dark secrets -- one company management desperately tries to hide from  shareholders  -- is that its RICO defense in the Ecuador pollution case faces the risk of a "spectacular implosion" in the coming months.

At least that's the informed opinion of somebody in one of the best positions to assess the case.

That person is none other than Aaron Page, a young law professor and practitioner who has represented the indigenous and farmer communities of Ecuador since 2005. That's when Page joined the case in Quito as an intern just out of law school at the University of Michigan.

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