Watch the entire Donny Rico series here: [ Ссылка ]
Donny RICO continues his series with Episode 4, "T'anks Judge" demonstrating another part of Chevron's efforts to get away with its massive pollution in the Amazon. Recognizing it was going to lose, and lose big in Ecuador, Chevron began searching desperately for other courts that might find in its favor (despite arguing Ecuador was the best venue for years). The company hit pay-dirt when it found Judge Lewis Kaplan, a U.S. Federal Judge. Kaplan himself suggested the RICO case, and then assigned it to his own courtroom. There's only one problem, Kaplan’s decision in favor of Chevron is deeply flawed both legally and factually and resulted from a bench trial overseen by a judge who repeatedly demonstrated his animus toward the Ecuadorian villagers and their counsel.
Judge Kaplan’s decision has no credibility – it is void for lack of jurisdiction and ruthlessly distorts the truth. In an unprecedented display of judicial overreach, Judge Kaplan tried to use his Manhattan courtroom to reverse a unanimous decision from Ecuador’s Supreme Court involving questions of Ecuadorian law. Judge Kaplan’s decision is also in open defiance of a prior decision in the very same case from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which barred him from ruling as he did on the validity of a foreign country’s judgment.
During the seven-week RICO trial, Judge Kaplan made a mockery of the rule of law. He refused to seat a jury and then let Chevron’s army of lawyers use the jury room as a private office. He then repeatedly denied the defendants the opportunity to present the voluminous and unassailable scientific evidence that proves the Ecuador judgment is valid. He also refused evidence that Chevron repeatedly attempted to corrupt and sabotage the proceedings in Ecuador because it knew it was losing on the merits. Tellingly, Judge Kaplan refused to even read the official record from the Ecuador trial that was relied on by the Ecuadorian courts to find Chevron liable.
Kaplan's decision is under appeal and is expected by many to be overturned in 2015. To learn more about the "Mockery of Justice" see this report: [ Ссылка ] and stay tuned for more "public service messages" from Donny Rico.
