Order barring Ecuador from collecting $18B vacated

[naaman fletcher]

NEW YORK — A federal appeals court has vacated an order by a New York judge that barred Ecuador from collecting an $18 billion judgment from Chevron Inc. for contaminating the Amazon.

The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the order Monday.

The panel had previously made clear that it believed the company had overreached in its efforts to persuade U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to strike down the judgment.

A lawyer for the Ecuadorean plaintiffs told the appeals court in oral arguments Friday that they would not attempt to recover damages until the appeals process in Ecuador was completed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP7802644aa72746a1aba2efada0bf485e.html