Chevron v. Donzinger: RICO & Abortion

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals will take up many issues in the fascinating case of Chevron v. Donzinger. You may recall this case arose from a massive oil spill in Ecuador and a multibillion judgment against Chevron that, Chevron claims, was the result of fraud and corruption by NY plaintiff’s attorney Steven Donzinger. Chevron filed a civil RICO suit and successfully obtained an injunction against Donzinger in the District Court. There are many issues on appeal but a key one is whether civil RICO suits can be used to obtain injunctions. An amicus brief was filed last week by Legal Momentum, the new name of the NOW Legal Defense Fund, that argues the answer should be “yes” because civil RICO injunctions have been used to enjoin protestors at abortion clinics. Here is their brief.. An excellent article appears in Forbes and the whole case is the subject of two new books.