SAN FRANCISCO - Ecuadoreans suing Chevron Corp. over pollution in the Amazon rain forest are one step closer to collecting a $9.5 billion judgment against the San Ramon company.

A U.S. appeals court on Monday lifted a lower court's order that had blocked the Ecuadorans from collecting money in the long-running lawsuit.

In February, a judge in Ecuador ruled that Chevron should pay to clean up contamination in the oil fields where Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, once worked.

But the company persuaded a U.S. judge to block enforcement, arguing that the verdict was the result of fraud. Chevron even filed a criminal conspiracy case against the Ecuadoreans.

Monday's order by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put that case on hold. It also lifted the injunction, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, that had prevented the Ecuadoreans from collecting the massive judgment against Chevron.

"It represents a triumph of the rule of law over the sensationalism created by Chevron's PR department," said Jim Tyrrell, an attorney representing the Ecuadoreans.

The appeals court, however, denied the Ecuadorans' request to remove Kaplan from the case. They consider him biased, based on his comments in court.

A Chevron spokesman could not be reached for comment Monday.

Monday's order does not mark the end of the lawsuit. Nor does it mean that the Ecuadoreans can immediately try to collect.

Chevron has appealed the case in Ecuador, and under that country's legal code, the plaintiffs can't enforce the judgment until the appeals run their course, said Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for the Ecuadoreans and their legal team. It's impossible to know, she said, just when the appeals will wrap up.

dbaker@sfchronicle.com