Mass Tort Claims In International Investment Proceedings: What Are The Lessons From The Ecuador-Chevron Dispute?

Resumen

In parallel to the Lago Agrio and Aguinda litigations in the U.S. and Ecuadorian proceedings that have been discussed already, 1 the Chevron dispute includes an international dimension that presents equally complex and important challenges, but focuses on very different issues and involves different parties.My remarks introduce these international proceedings first to explain the different actions taken by the parties in different forums.I then assess the viability of international dispute resolution mechanisms for mass tort claims in general, before considering more specifically whether they can provide sufficient redress to mass tort claimants.Finally, I briefly introduce alternative dispute resolution forums to assess their applicability in mass tort claims. INTRODUCTION: THE CHEVRON/ECUADOR DISPUTEIn order to understand the Chevron/Ecuador dispute, it is important to contextualize the case historically-especially to understand Ecuador's position and how its relation to Texaco/Chevron plays out on the international plane.Ecuador's first concession to Texaco Petroleum ("Tex-Pet") and the Gulf Oil Company ("Gulf") to explore Ecuador's Oriente region was granted to both companies, as a consortium, in 1964. 2 In 1973,