Texaco's lawyers argue that case should properly be adjudicated in Ecuadorian courts. Lawyers for the White Plains, New York based corporation had earlier opposed the case being heard in any court. Cristobal Bonifaz, a Boston based environmental lawyer who is a native of Ecuador, said the plaintiffs want the case heard by American U.S. courts because they have no faith in the justice that would be meted out by the courts of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian government depends heavily on oil revenues and its courts have no experience with tort law, Bonifaz argued. Oil well left by Texaco.
Environmentalists say contaminants flow directly into an adjacent river.
This is an incredible catastrophe. Until 1990, Texaco controlled 90 percent of these oil operations. The report documented toxic contaminants in drinking water at levels reaching 1,000 times the safety standards recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ecuadorean health workers reported increased stomach and intestinal problems, skin rashes, birth defects and cancers, illnesses that they believe to be related to the petroleum contamination. The case was filed on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadoran plaintiffs in November 1993 by a team of lawyers headed by Bonifaz and Joseph Kohn of Kohn, Naft and Graf of Philadelphia.