Chevron on trial in San Francisco for rights abuses

Chevron Corp. is at the center of a legal case before federal court in San Francisco that will ask jurors to decide whether the firm sanctioned human rights abuses that resulted in the deaths and injuries of protesters at its Nigerian facilities, or whether the company was simply protecting its employees from belligerent kidnappers.

The lawsuit–identified as Bowoto vs. Chevron, No. C99-2506SI (N.D. Calif.)–alleges that Chevron, in conjunction with the Nigerian military, engaged in torture, assaults, and the killing of two protesters over Chevron’s environmental record and its failure to hire locals in the delta region near its oil drilling operations.

Both sides in the current case recognize that the impending courtroom battle, described by one observer as “epic,” has legal implications that reach far beyond a single incident by one corporation operating in Nigeria.

“This case could have serious ramifications for workers in developing parts of the world,” said Charles A. James, Chevron vice-president and general counsel.

“If plaintiffs had their way, a company could not report hostage-taking to law enforcement authorities without facing the threat of a lawsuit in the US,” James said.

Dan Stormer of Hadsell, Stormer, Keeny, Richardson & Renick in Pasadena, Calif., is representing the plaintiffs, a group of Nigerians who were injured during protests on a Chevron offshore oil platform in 1998.

Stormer said his firm is trying to hold a corporation liable for its bad actions in another country, even if it is committed by their surrogates, a wholly owned subsidiary, or by the Nigerian government.

According to Chevron, the hostage-taking incident occurred 10 years ago on oil facilities operated off the Nigerian coast by Chevron Corp. subsidiary Chevron Nigeria Ltd. (CNL). More than 100 CNL workers and contractors were held for ransom and threatened with acts of violence.

Chevron said the incident began when plaintiff Larry Bowoto and other members of the Concerned Ilaje Citizens, an unsanctioned Nigerian community group, threatened CNL with violence and sea piracy if the company did not pay them money and give them jobs. Weeks later, according to Chevron, they followed through on their threats by seizing the oil platform, an adjacent barge, and a tug boat on May 25, 1998, holding CNL employees and contractors hostage and demanding money and other considerations. CNL attempted to negotiate a resolution without success.

“Although plaintiffs say they were peaceful protestors, eyewitnesses have testified in deposition that the hostage takers poured diesel fuel on the barge and threatened to set it on fire,” Chevron said.

Fearing for the safety of its workers, and with tensions mounting, CNL asked for assistance from the Nigerian Navy. Under Nigerian law, only the country’s military can provide armed security.

“Now the hostage takers are suing Chevron, claiming that CNL should not have reported the matter to Nigerian law enforcement officials and that the Nigerian authorities used excessive force in rescuing the workers,” Chevron said.

According to the National Law Journal, the case against Chevron is one of a handful in recent years that have used a 200-year-old law, created originally to provide redress to the victims of piracy at sea, and known as the Alien Tort Claims Act.

The NLJ said a body of law has since developed that allows people injured in other countries to seek redress in US courts.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC faces a similar trial in the Southern District of New York on Feb. 9, 2009, in a pair of cases charging it with human rights violations and racketeering in Nigeria.