Patton Boggs To Pay Chevron $15M, Issue Apology To Avoid Fraud Suit

Patton Boggs will pay Chevron $15 million, issue a statement of regret and withdraw from the Ecuador case, and in exchange Chevron has agreed not to pursue fraud claims it made against the firm and its partners. In April, a New York federal judge gave the green light for Chevron to pursue fraud allegations against Patton Boggs for its role supporting controversial plaintiff’s attorney Steven Donziger’s pollution case against the oil giant. Donziger spearheaded the decades-long pollution case regarding damage done to Ecuador’s rain forests decades ago by a firm Chevron recently acquired, and three years ago an Ecuadorean court levied a $19 billion judgment against Chevron.  But the company scored a victory earlier this year when U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan found that Donziger had violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to secure the win in that case.

As part of the settlement, Patton Boggs also agreed to assign its five-percent interest in any money the plaintiffs obtain. It also agreed to assist Chevron with discovery against the Ecuadorian plaintiffs and Donziger. “We are pleased that Patton Boggs is ending its association with the fraudulent and extortionate Ecuador litigation scheme,” Hewitt Pate, Chevron’s vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. “Chevron detailed its objections to Patton Boggs’ conduct in its counterclaim, and today’s agreement brings that litigation to an end. Chevron encourages others to disassociate themselves from this fraud.”

The case appears to add insult to injury for Patton Boggs, which is struggling to survive a dive in revenue by pursuing a merger with Squire Sanders, and recently lost a score of partners to competing firms.