“Ecuador vs. Chevron, By Way of Canada”, 16 Sep 2015

…Canada’s Supreme Court ruled on September 4th that Ecuadorian villagers can seek to enforce an Ecuadorian legal judgment in Canada for $9.5 billion against Chevron Corporation for polluting the Amazon rainforest.  The plaintiffs were successful in arguing that since Chevron owns at least $15 billion worth of assets in Canada…they can pursue the case in Ontario courts…Chevron Corp. argued that its Canadian assets don’t belong to the parent company, but to a subsidiary called Chevron Canada Ltd.  But the high court rejected the company’s arguments…Chevron denies liability for the contamination, saying the pollution was cleaned up after Texaco pulled out of Ecuador in 1992.  The company also asserts that the Ecuadorian government released the company from further responsibility, and Chevron calls the case “the legal fraud of the century”…The ruling weakens the so-called ‘corporate veil’ that has shielded subsidiaries from responsibility for the actions of their corporate parents…[T]he Supreme Court ruling has set an important historical precedent, with potentially far-reaching implications.