Ecuadorean Court Replaces Judge in Multibillion-Dollar Chevron Case

An Ecuadorean court dealt plaintiffs a setback Tuesday in a $27 billion environmental contamination lawsuit against Chevron, accepting the presiding judge's request to be removed from the case so the government can investigate Chevron's claims that he was involved in a bribery scheme. A verdict in the case had been expected this year, but the lead attorney for the plaintiffs said it will take a new judge "four to five months to get to know a case that has some 17,000 documents."