In a clear 11th-hour retreat that suggests it does not believe its own allegations, Chevron has taken the extraordinary step of pleading with a U.S. judge to block a jury from deciding its retaliatory “fraud” and RICO claims against Ecuadorian villagers and their U.S. lawyer. The company also said it was even prepared to drop a $60 billion damages claim if the judge agrees to deny the defendants a jury trial. Chevron's $60 billion figure is based on three times the $19 billion Ecuadorian judgement, plus costs.

In another stunning request embedded in a series of motions filed in recent days, Chevron also demanded that federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan bar all evidence of the company’s extensive record of environmental pollution in Ecuador and that he conduct secret proceedings for certain witnesses where the defendants will be booted out of the courtroom.

“Chevron has shown over and over that its only legal strategy is to outspend everyone and continue to run from the law for another twenty years,” said Chris Gowen, who is advising the Ecuadorians and their longtime U.S. lawyer, Steven R. Donziger. “When a litigant tries to avoid a jury, you can be certain that litigant knows it has no case.”

Tags: Chevron Corporation