The case filed by Ecuadorean indigenous groups is one of the largest environmental suits against an oil firm and could set a precedent. Chevron dismisses it as a 'charade.'... Richard Cabrera, a court-appointed expert...poured fuel on an epic environmental lawsuit filed by Ecuadorean indigenous groups against...Chevron-Texaco... Mr. Cabrera...recommended to an Ecuadorean judge last Tuesday that Chevron pay $8 billion to $16 billion for environmental damages if the company loses a bitterly contested case that started in 1993 with a lawsuit in New York courts, which ruled that the case should be tried in Ecuador... Chevron...attacked the report and its author. "We consider the report null and void because it is the result of irregular processes that do not conform with court orders," Ricardo Reis Veiga, managing counsel for Chevron Latin America, said in a telephone interview. [also refers to lawsuits against Unocal (now part of Chevron) re Burma, Chevron re Nigeria, Occidental re Peru]