Oliegiganten havde håbet at gå fri via sit hjemlands retssystem, men sådan gik det ikke – olien har angiveligt forurenet og ødelagt store strækninger af artsrig regnskov og indianer-jord i det sydamerikanske banan-land.
The US Supreme Court has declined to block a judgement from an Ecuadorean court that a US oil firm pay billions in damages for pollution in the Amazon, BBC online reports Tuesday.
Chevron was fighting a ruling that it must pay 18,2 billion US dollar in damages (skadeserstatning), a sum increased to 19 billion in July.
It is the latest move in a decades-long legal wrangle between Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, and the people of the Lago Agrio region of Ecuador.
The decision could affect other oil firms accused of pollution. The court did not explain why it decided to reject the appeal from Chevron.
The case claimed that Texaco contaminated (forurenede) land between 1964 and 1992, and has triggered several other lawsuits in courts within the US and elsewhere.
But Chevron has said it believes the judgement, handed down by a court in Ecuador in February 2011, is fraudulent (svigagtig) and not enforceable under New York law.
The judgement originally ordered 8,6 billion dollar in environmental damages, but that was more than doubled because the oil company did not apologise publicly.
The oil firm has also challenged the judgement under an international trade agreement between the US and Ecuador, due to begin in November.
