Texaco says Ecuadoran Indian lawsuit doesn't belong in U.S. courts
Story-Date: 08:25 a.m. PST Tuesday  , February 2, 1999

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Texaco says Ecuadoran Indian lawsuit doesn't belong in U.S. courts


By Richard Pyle
Associated Press Writer


NEW YORK (AP) -- Lawyers for Texaco Corp. say a billion-dollar lawsuit
brought against the oil giant by a group of Ecuadoran Indian tribes belongs
in Ecuadoran rather than American courts.

"Texaco's position is quite clear: The case belongs in Ecuador," said Chris
Gidez, a spokesman at Texaco headquarters in White Plains, N.Y.

Ecuadoran Indians in native dress sat in Manhattan federal court Monday as
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff heard oral arguments in the class action
suit, which he had dismissed in 1997, only to have it reinstated by the
U.S. Court of Appeals last year.

The tribes claim that oil drilling technology introduced to Ecuador by
Texaco nearly 30 years ago and still in use by Petroecuador, the national
oil company, has turned thousands of square miles of Amazon rain forest
into a toxic waste dump.

Texaco's Gidez said the plaintiffs have yet to present credible scientific
evidence to support their claims.

The oil company's lawyers, who had previously opposed the case being heard
anywhere, now say the case belongs in Ecuadoran courts, not American
courts.

"The plaintiffs are in Ecuador, the operations occurred in Ecuador, the
state oil company, which is a major partner in the consortium, is in
Ecuador, and the evidence is in Ecuador," Gidez said. "Lastly, the kind of
relief the plaintiffs seek can only be obtained in Ecuador, due to changes
in the procedures of Petroecuador and regulations concerning the production
of oil."

But Cristobal Bonifaz, a Boston-based environmental lawyer and native of
Ecuador, said the plaintiffs believe the U.S. courts are the only place
where they can get justice, because the government of Ecuador is too
dependent on oil revenues and its courts have no experience with tort law.

"This is an incredible catastrophe -- they contaminated the land, they
contaminated the rivers, they killed the fish and created a medical
condition that is going to get worse in the years to come," Bonifaz said
after the hearing.

Asked why the Ecuadoran government did not intervene with laws to stop the
practices and clean up the damage, Bonifaz said the country is dependent on
oil exports for more than half its revenue and could go bankrupt if it lost
that income.

Judge Rakoff had dismissed the suit in 1997 on grounds that Ecuador
officials waited too long before deciding whether to continue opposing the
suit or joining it as a plaintiff. The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals reinstated
the case last year and ordered the judge to decide on the venue question.

The judge did not indicate when he would rule in the case.

Texaco has a marketing subsidiary in Ecuador now but no current oil
exploration or production operations of its own, said a spokesman.



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