Lott joining Boggs leads to lawsuit with Chevron
(CN) – Patton Boggs claims Chevron is trying to undermine the $113 billion environmental lawsuit it faces in Ecuador by intimidating attorneys who stand in its way. The law firm claims that Chevron “will not be content until there remains no attorney left in this country who will dare provide representation to the Ecuadorian plaintiffs, lest their good name be dragged through the mud.”
Chevron’s latest maneuver was to level bogus conflict of interest charges against a Patton Boggs attorney, involving the politically powerful Breaux Lott Leadership Group, led by two former U.S. senators, the law firm claims in District of Columbia Federal Court.
Patton Boggs seeks declaratory judgment “that the Breaux Lott Leadership Group’s prior nonlegal work for Chevron does not provide a basis for disqualifying Patton Boggs from representing the Ecuadoran plaintiffs.”
The law firm claims that “Chevron has now begun to threaten Patton Boggs by alleging that because lobbying work was previously done by two persons who recently joined Patton Boggs – namely, former United States Senators Trent Lott and John Breaux – through the Breaux Lott Leadership Group, a conflict of interest exists.”
Courthouse News
11/23/10
Magnolia Tribune
