The clichéd David vs. Goliath depiction is one which is often used when describing legal cases. But Ecuador’s Lago Agrio community vs. the Chevron Corporation is one legal battle which aptly fits the analogy. The controversial case has a long history, involving alleged environmental violations in Ecuador’s Amazon region by Texaco (now Chevron) from 1964 […]
Cargill Incorporated (“Cargill”) is a US-based company that manufactures high fructose corn syrup (“HFCS”), a low-cost substitute for cane sugar that is used as a sweetener in soft drinks. Mexico, the world’s second largest per capita consumer of soft drinks, implemented various trade barriers to protect its domestic sugar cane industry from foreign-produced HFCS. In […]
The Canadian government has had mixed results lately in defending itself against NAFTA claims. Recently, Canada agreed to provide compensation in the amount of $130 million to settle the claim of AbitibiBowater Inc. (“Abitibi”). TheCourt.ca commented on this settlement, and given that the actions of the Government of Newfoundland were so clearly in contravention of […]
This week, the federal government announced a settlement of a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Can T.S. 1994 No. 2 (“NAFTA”) by AbitibiBowater Inc. (“Abitibi”) against Canada as a result of the dispute between the company and Newfoundland. In 2008, the Newfoundland government hastily expropriated nearly all of Abitibi’s Newfoundland assets after […]
A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") denied leave to appeal in Slahi v Canada (Justice), 2009 FCA 259, first canvassed on TheCourt.ca by Padraic Ryan here. My post aims to briefly examine the international law aspects of the case and their relation to the Charter.