Lawyers representing residents of an Amazon rain forest said
they filed a second lawsuit to seize assets belonging to Chevron
Corp. (CVX) as part of their effort to collect an $18.2 billion
judgment they won in Ecuador in a pollution case.
The claim, filed Wednesday in the Superior Tribunal of Justice
in Brasilia, Brazil, is part a long-running legal battle. The
plaintiffs have argued their land was contaminated by oil
operations dating back to the 1970s involving Texaco Inc., which
Chevron bought in 2001. Last year, a court in Ecuador found Chevron
liable and levied an $18.2 billion judgment
Chevron repeated its criticism of the court judgment and
predicted the latest legal maneuver by plaintiffs' attorneys
wouldn't succeed.
"The Ecuador judgment is a product of bribery, fraud and it is
illegitimate," Chevron said in a statement. "The company does not
believe that the Ecuador judgment is enforceable in any court that
observes the rule of law."
The plaintiffs have said they will try to seize Chevron's assets
in countries where it operates to force it to pay the judgment.
The legal action in Brazil was "made necessary by Chevron's
refusal to comply with an "$18 billion court judgment in Ecuador
that was affirmed on appeal," the plaintiffs said in a statement.
The group said they were targeting Chevron operations in Brazil
they said produce 33,000 barrels of crude oil and 13 million cubic
feet of natural gas a day.
In May, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in Canada to seize assets
there belonging to Chevron. The plaintiffs said they aim to
"garnish various revenue streams" and Canadian assets belonging to
Chevron.
-Angel Gonzalez and Daniel Gilbert contributed to this
article
Write to Cassandra Sweet at cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com