On January 20, 2017, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
released a summary judgment decision in the case of Yaiguaje v
Chevron Corporation, terminating a civil claim by Ecuadorian
plaintiffs against Chevron Canada Limited ("CCL"). That
judgment has now been released to the public, and may be found here.1
The decision is an important one to environmental lawyers,
particularly given the recent growth of interest by governments in
encouraging corporate social responsibility by companies operating
extractive industries on foreign soil.2
Background
In 2013, the plaintiffs obtained an Ecuadorian judgment for US
$9.5 Billion against the parent company, Chevron Corporation. The
judgment arose out of alleged pollution caused by Chevron
Corporation in Ecuador. When the Plaintiffs were unable to enforce
their claim in Ecuador (insufficient assets) or the U.S. (claim
dismissed as unenforceable in the U.S. and fraudulent), they
attempted to do so in Canada, against CCL, a
