This Week In ShakeDowns: Chevron and Furniture

Ugly business.

Review & Outlook: Shakedown in Ecuador - WSJ.com: "Woody Allen made 'Bananas' in 1971 about a South American banana republic, but as a slapstick comedy it's hard to beat this week's $8.6 billion judgment against Chevron by a provincial court in Ecuador. The only thing more preposterous than the case is that the plaintiffs want more. The suit, filed in an Ecuadorian court in Lago Agrio in 2003, charges that Texaco (since merged with Chevron) failed to clean up oil spills from wells it drilled in the 1970s, and thus should be liable for as much as $113 billion. The fact that Texaco cleaned up its sites and was released from liability by the government of Ecuador and state oil company PetroEcuador didn't stop the plaintiffs, led by attorney Steven Donziger, from concocting a case through legally dubious tactics."

Chinese Furniture Makers Buy U.S. Peace - WSJ.com: "Some U.S. furniture makers and their lawyers have found a reliable way to extract cash from Chinese competitors deemed by U.S. officials to have 'dumped' their products in the U.S., selling them at unfairly low prices. Each year since 2006, they have asked the Commerce Department to review the U.S. duties paid by Chinese manufacturers on imports of wooden bedroom furniture. Many Chinese firms, fearing a steep rise in duties, agreed within months each time to pay cash to their U.S. competitors in return for being removed from the review list."