Case Updates
Mandamus petition declined
September 26, 2013
The Second Circuit denied the Ecuadorian plaintiffs’ mandamus petition seeking the reassignment of the district judge presiding over their case against Chevron.
U.S. Chamber urges Second Circuit to reject attempts to re-assign Chevron case to different judge
July 29, 2013
The U.S. Chamber urged the Second Circuit to reject the Petitioners’ renewed attempt to have this case reassigned. The district judge and the Second Circuit have previously rejected Petitioners’ multiple efforts—including a 2011 mandamus recusal petition—to secure the district judge’s recusal. Petitioners’ latest request cites essentially no new grounds for reassignment. Instead, Petitioners merely have attacked the district judge's impartiality in both litigation proceedings and the press—citing the district judge’s rulings in the case as the only evidence of purported bias and then have used those attacks as an excuse for disqualifying him. The Chamber argued that yielding to this behavior would not only result in gross inefficiencies and a waste of judicial resources, but also validate the plaintiffs’ strategy and encourage other litigants to do likewise. This would undermine the integrity and independence essential to the effective functioning of the U.S. judicial system, and signal that such behavior is not only acceptable, but effective.