A New York judge indicated that Chevron must present proof of its extortion claims if it wants him to grant a district-wide injunction blocking an Ecuadorean court's [US]$18.2 billion judgment for environmental devastation to the Amazon. In 1993, residents of…Lago Agrio filed a federal lawsuit…against…Texaco over petroleum spills that allegedly exposed thousands to life-threatening disease, contaminated the groundwater and left oil pits oozing across the rainforest. Eight years later, Chevron acquired Texaco and convinced a New York appellate court to dismiss the case in favor of litigating it in Ecuador…Chevron returned to New York with allegations that its courtroom adversaries tainted the Lago Agrio trial to extort a fraudulent judgment…On Tuesday, Kaplan took a cautious step toward a narrower injunction blocking the award's collection in…New York, but he ruled that he would not hand Chevron a victory before the case got to trial. [also refers to Petroecuador]