Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21 -- The US District Court for the Northern District of California has dismissed the remaining two claims against Chevron Corp. alleging health impacts to Ecuadorian citizens resulting from a subsidiary's oil operations that ended in 1992.
"The ruling, based on California's 2-year statute of limitations, effectively brings the matter to an end," Chevron said in a statement. It said the lawsuit was the third in a series of suits that had been launched by Cristobal Bonifaz, a Massachusetts-based trial attorney claiming to represent Ecuadorian plaintiffs.
The suits claimed chemicals and wastewater dumped by Chevron subsidiary Texaco Petroleum in the years it operated in Ecuador caused several inhabitants to develop cancer. In October, however, the judge imposed sanctions and a $45,000 fine against Bonifaz after the plaintiffs admitted they did not have cancer.
Chevron is still fighting a major lawsuit in Ecuador over claims of environmental damage. In October, the firm filed a petition with the Ecuador Superior Court seeking dismissal of that suit.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
