MANHATTAN (CN) - Breaking with their U.S.-based attorney, indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorean Amazon who won a $9.8 billion verdict against Chevron in their home country say they will not accept a retrial of that case in New York.
"We filed suit in our country more than 10 years ago, after being told by the courts of New York that they - our original choice - lacked the jurisdiction to provide the relief we sought," Javier Piaguaje Payaguaje and Hugo Camacho Naranjo wrote in a letter dated April 23 to their lawyer. "Ultimately we found justice in the Ecuadorian legal system, and we stand by the decisions issued by three of its courts. We will not disregard a legal victory that has cost us so much."
Their attorney Burt Neuborne, a professor at New York University School of Law, appeared to be unaware of this rift with his clients when reached for comment Friday.
Ecuador's rainforest residents have been defending a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron from the oil giant's counteroffensive on three continents that label the verdict an extortionate "shakedown."
Chevron's allegations came to a head last month as the 2nd Circuit in New York considered whether to affirm a federal judge's finding that the landmark environmental judgment had been "procured by corrupt means."
It was during that hearing that one member of the appellate panel, Judge Richard Wesley, made the stunning proposal of having the two-decade-old case return to New York, where it began as a case against Chevron's predecessor Texaco in 1993.
Ironically, it was Chevron's attorney, Ted Olson, who rejected the opportunity to erase the company's billions in liability with a New York do-over.
Though the move to eliminate the fraud allegations could wipe out the award, attorneys for the Ecuadoreans and for their adviser, Steven Donziger, said they were open to it.
Neuborne told Wesley he would advise his clients that retrial is the "best answer" to their predicament.
Chevron spokesman Morgan Crinklaw said the development shows a loss of faith in the judgment by the Ecuadoreans and Donziger.
"The fact that Steven Donziger and the lawyer for the Lago Agrio plaintiffs jumped at the idea of having a new trial in the United States demonstrates that even they don't believe in the legitimacy of the court process in Ecuador or judgment against Chevron," Crinklaw said in an email.
The April 23 letter from Neuborne's clients in the Amazon may undermine that theory, however.
"We sincerely appreciate the effort you put in before the Second Circuit in defending our rights and interests," Piaguaje and Camacho wrote. "But to be clear, your representation of us is expressly limited to argument in that particular matter, and you are not authorized to make any concessions or agreements, or enter into any negotiations, without consulting with us in detail and receiving our prior consent."
An umbrella group whose Spanish name translates to the Union of those Affected by Texaco's Petroleum Operations (UDAPT) rejected the retrial idea days later as well.