雪佛龍的律師背叛了這家石油公司嗎？ - 彭博社

斯蒂文·唐齊格，圖中所示，和地球權利組織正在向吉布森·鄧恩拋泥，以試圖混淆等待在切vron訴唐齊格案中裁決的相關方照片由弗雷德·R·康拉德/《紐約時報》通過Redux提供這是一個由切vron的對手們傳播的有趣小道消息：吉布森、鄧恩和克魯徹，切vron的外部律師事務所，背叛了他們的客户！哇。這聽起來像是切vron的麻煩。吉布森·鄧恩，是全國最著名的企業律師事務所之一。直到，實際上，人們查看事實。

“切vron自己的律師危及切vron-厄瓜多爾RICO訴訟的命運”在一篇博客文章的標題上宣稱，作者是位於華盛頓的非營利倡導組織地球權利國際。我通過斯蒂文·唐齊格的一封羣發電子郵件得知了這篇文章，他是一位正在被切vron起訴的紐約原告律師。唐齊格和地球權利組織正在向吉布森·鄧恩拋泥，以試圖混淆等待在切vron訴唐齊格案中裁決的相關方。地球權利甚至暗示“這場永無止境的訴訟的下一階段可能會看到切vron起訴自己的律師。”不太可能。

這裏是真相：唐齊格代表成千上萬的貧困雨林農民和部落成員在厄瓜多爾成功起訴了切vron，他們指責這家美國跨國公司在亞馬遜地區造成污染。20多年前在美國開始的法庭敵對行動 culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated 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culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culminated culmin

雪佛龍反駁稱，唐齊格通過脅迫和賄賂取得勝利——他對此否認。這家石油公司通過在紐約聯邦法院根據美國反敲詐法起訴原告律師，將鬥爭帶回美國。去年秋天，這場民事審判展開，對唐齊格來説並不順利。他承認他預計會被判定為有責任——裁決可能隨時會作出——因為他將自己的厄瓜多爾訴訟變成了一場敲詐行動。

唐齊格是一位遊擊傳播的高手，除了其他技能外，他試圖在雪佛龍和吉布森·鄧恩之間製造不和，以期待敲詐判決和他不可避免的上訴。他的宣傳表面上看起來很有吸引力：在試圖證明唐齊格是一個真正的黑幫分子的過程中，雪佛龍已請求一位聯邦法官下令禁止原告律師或他的客户從他們在厄瓜多爾的不當判決中獲益。（唐齊格無法迫使雪佛龍在厄瓜多爾支付，因為該公司在這個小安第斯國家沒有可言的資產。）

吉布森·鄧恩辯稱，美國地區法官路易斯·卡普蘭可能根據《反敲詐影響和腐敗組織法》（RICO）施加這樣的命令或禁令。然而，在紐約聯邦法院針對另一位客户的一個單獨案件中，吉布森·鄧恩辯稱，私人方不能根據RICO獲得禁令。唐齊格的發言人韓山稱這種矛盾立場是雪佛龍自己外部律師事務所吉布森·鄧恩可能造成的“致命打擊”。

讓我們理清楚。RICO是否賦予私人方獲得禁令的權力是一個未解決的問題。一些法官説可以；另一些法官則説不可以。儘管RICO自1970年以來就存在，但它是一部複雜的法規，這個細節仍有待解決。與此同時，律師事務所可以根據支付賬單的利益，選擇任一方進行辯論。

這，無論好壞，就是律師所做的事情。一天，律師為司法部工作，試圖將白領被告送進監獄；第二天（或者更可能是明年），律師為同樣的白領被告辯護。你想要一致性？那就和哲學家、神學家，或者更好的是，一隻訓練有素的狗待在一起。

現在，當一家僱傭律師事務所要在一個問題上辯論雙方時，就像吉布森·鄧恩所做的那樣，它必須獲得受影響案件中客户的許可。吉布森·鄧恩正是這樣做的。雪佛龍發言人摩根·克林克勞表示，他的僱主對此表示贊同。“法律界多年來一直關注關於私人RICO禁令救濟的開放問題的雙方，”克林克勞通過電子郵件告訴我。“雪佛龍對另一支吉布森·鄧恩團隊在不同案件中涉及不同客户的工作沒有任何擔憂。雪佛龍相信其對禁令救濟的請求將在[針對唐齊格的訴訟中]得到支持，但法律問題最終將由最高法院解決。這只是原告製造爭議並轉移注意力以掩蓋他們自己欺詐和犯罪活動的最新嘗試。”

實際上，情況比這更糟：唐齊格在表現得不誠實。“這一把戲的荒謬性，”克林克勞補充道，“體現在原告的長期律師埃默裏·塞利正在為他們現在抱怨的同一獨立案件中爭取私人RICO禁令救濟。”

頭腦還在旋轉嗎？埃默裏·塞利·布林克霍夫與阿巴迪，一家過去曾與唐齊格肩並肩為厄瓜多爾原告工作的紐約律師事務所，也出現在獨立的紐約案件中——並在RICO禁令問題上與唐齊格持相反立場。雖然這可能不太好看，但這就是律師所做的事情。

在2月7日，當吉布森·鄧恩在RICO問題上的靈活性被提請給美國第二巡迴法院的圭多·卡拉布雷西時，這位傑出的法官基本上打了個哈欠。吉布森·鄧恩的律師“完全有權”為不同的客户採取不同的立場，卡拉布雷西説。

關於亞馬遜污染的漫長法律鬥爭在雙方都表現出不一致。德克薩斯公司（Texaco），在2001年被雪佛龍收購，最初爭取在美國駁回訴訟，稱適合審理的地方是厄瓜多爾，該石油公司對其法院表示讚賞。一旦合併後的公司獲得了它想要的管轄權，雪佛龍就反過來主張厄瓜多爾的法院是腐敗的。唐齊格（Donziger）則最初希望在紐約進行訴訟，稱他的客户在厄瓜多爾無法獲得公正。一旦他在那裏取得成功——據稱是利用了厄瓜多爾司法習俗的某種寬鬆——他突然將這個安第斯國家視為法庭正當性的真正奧林匹斯。

律師們提出他們認為在當前情況下有效的論點。在雪佛龍訴唐齊格案中，更重要的是原告的律師是否確實是一個騙子，正如石油公司所指控的，或者如唐齊格所堅持的那樣被不公正地迫害。如果他被判定為民事敲詐，那將削弱他在第三國收取厄瓜多爾判決的能力，無論卡普蘭法官在紐約制定何種補救措施。而且卡普蘭還有其他選擇，而不僅僅是RICO禁令。

判定責任的結果也會削弱唐齊格作為法庭官員和律師協會成員的職業聲譽。他在厄瓜多爾使用的可疑法律手段為雪佛龍提供了充足的理由來抵制污染爭議的解決。從這個角度來看，人們不禁想知道，唐齊格的策略雖然看似聰明，是否真的符合他客户的長期利益。