The Chevron Saga: The Denial of Justice Standard under the Fair and Equitable Treatment and Customary International Law

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The Chevron saga is a paramount example of parallel proceedings. It includes several judicial proceedings in Ecuador and the U.S., different settlements, decisions at all levels of the Ecuadorian judicial system, and enforcement proceedings before the courts of several countries. In 2009, Chevron Corporation and Texaco Petroleum initiated arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Ecuador claiming that Ecuador had breached Article II of the Treaty between the United States of America and Ecuador concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investment (the BIT) by failing to provide them fair and equitable treatment. Further, they also claimed that Ecuador committed a denial of justice. In its recent decision, the arbitral tribunal analysed the denial of justice standard under the fair and equitable treatment provision of the treaty and customary international law and concluded that Ecuador had in fact committed a denial of justice. The purpose of this case-note is to analyse the Tribunal’s findings on the denial of justice standard.