Chevron allowed to pursue Ecuador fraud claims against law firm

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. may sue law firm Patton Boggs LLP over its involvement in obtaining a $9.5 billion judgment in Ecuador ruled to be a product of fraud, a federal judge said. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted Chevron’s request today about a month after issuing findings that a lawyer representing the Ecuadoreans, Steven Donziger, and his associates used bribery and fraud to get the award, even ghostwriting much of the judgment issued by the Ecuadorean court. Donziger has appealed those findings.