Amazon Watch still backs Steven Donziger’s discredited Chevron lawsuit after others bail

When a federal judge ruled last year that trial lawyer Steven Donziger’s team engaged in fraud to win a multibillion-dollar environmental lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador, both moral supporters and investors who funded the legal action began to bail.

The Washington Times - Kellan Howell 16/07/2015

When a federal judge ruled last year that trial lawyer Steven Donziger’s team engaged in fraud to win a multibillion-dollar environmental lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador, both moral supporters and investors who funded the legal action began to bail.

The specific evidence cited by the judge and the negative publicity was too much for backers such as Burford Capital and the Patton Boggs law firm, which renounced their involvement in the lawsuit.

But not Amazon Watch, an environmental group dedicated to preserving the Amazon rainforests and fighting climate change that relies on celebrity donors such as actor and director Leonardo DiCaprio and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer to fund its global work.

It has steadfastly remained behind Mr. Donziger’s effort to collect damages from Chevron, using the case for its own appeals and even suggesting that the judge wasn’t qualified to reach his conclusions because he didn’t speak Spanish.

Amazon Watch’s doggedness in supporting a case that has been discredited in the U.S. courts, however, hasn’t scared away its own financial support.

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