LA Plaintiffs Firm Loses Chevron Suit Filed for Nigerian Protest Victims
A federal jury in San Francisco has ruled for Chevron in a case brought on behalf of Nigerian victims of a military shooting during a protest on the company’s oil rig.
The plaintiffs had sued for damages under the Alien Tort Claims Act, the Recorder reports. They had sought damages for wrongful death and injuries for the incident in May 1998, which began when a group of Nigerian villagers took over a Chevron oil platform. Chevron called the Nigerian military, which shot several people.
The suit is the second alien tort case to go to trial that claims a large corporation acted with foreign governments to harm local residents. It is a loss for Los Angeles plaintiffs firm Hadsell, Stormer, Keeny, Richardson & Renick, the Recorder story says.
Partner Dan Stormer told the Recorder that two of his firm’s lawyers had worked on the case close to full time. He said the firm did the right thing by taking the risky case. “If we did not take cases like this, we would not be doing our job,” he told the publication.
