(CN) - A federal judge balked at a plea to reconsider Patton Boggs' lawsuit accusing Chevron of using intimidation tactics to thwart multibillion environmental claims in Ecuador. The reaction does not bode well for a separate, "identical" lawsuit the firm filed with the same court that threw out its first attempt.
U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy dismissed the original lawsuit and the motion to amend on April 19. A week later, Patton Boggs moved for reconsideration and proposed amending its complaint to add new claims. Simultaneously, however, it filed a new complaint that mirrored the action Kennedy refused to enter.
"Simply put, Patton Boggs's argument is a day late and a dollar short," Kennedy ruled on July 8, with respect to the motion for reconsideration and leave to amend. Though Kennedy declined to dismiss the duplicate lawsuit at this juncture, he hinted that the Washington-based firm is unlikely to prevail.
"The Court will not at this time address the fact that Patton Boggs has taken the unusual step of filing, along with its motion for reconsideration, a new complaint in a separate action presenting the same claims that were dismissed in this case, along with another tortious interference claim," Kennedy wrote. "Although Chevron suggests that the Court would be within its power to dismiss that case sua sponte, the Court believes that the proper course is to give full consideration to the arguments made by the parties regarding Chevron's pending motion to dismiss that action."
Patton Boggs' objective with these filings is a declaratory judgment that there is no conflict of interest in its representation of a group of indigenous Ecuadoreans who are trying to hold Chevron liable for decades of oil contamination allegedly caused by Texaco, which Chevron acquired and pulled out of Ecuador in 2001.
As Chevron and the Ecuadoreans appeal an $18.6 billion judgment in Ecuador, Chevron has requested relief in several other venues and conducted discovery in 20 courts throughout the United States in pursuit of that goal.
The Delaware-based oil company won an injunction in Manhattan to block collection efforts, is suing the government of Ecuador at The Hague, and is suing the players behind the Ecuadoreans' suit.
At the heart of the conflict-of-interest dispute, Chevron has bristled at attempts by Patton Boggs partner James Tyrrell to intercede in Manhattan proceedings.
Tyrell has ties to the Breaux Lott Leadership Group, which Patton Boggs acquired in July 2010.
But Chevron had retained the politically powerful group, headed by former U.S. Senators Trent Lott and John Breaux, years earlier to lobby on its behalf in the Ecuador case.
Patton Boggs says Chevron is wrong to suggest there is a conflict of interest, since Breaux Lott performed "pure lobbying services" for Chevron, not legal work or advice.
