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A group of Ecuadoran villagers can proceed with a legal claim that asks an Ontario court to help them collect on a US$9.5-billion judgment they obtained in Ecuador against global oil giant Chevron Corp., the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled.

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Lenczner, one of Canada’s top litigators, agreed to take the case after he made a trip to Ecuador and saw the damage left behind by nearly two decades of pollution

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The Supreme Court’s ruling, issued Friday, upholds a similar finding reached by theOntario Court of Appeal in December 2013.

The court found simple reasons to confirm Ontario’s jurisdiction to hear the Ecuadoran villagers’ enforcement case. It said the original lawsuit, a claim for environmental damages in the Amazon jungle, was properly brought in Ecuador. And it said the Ecuadoran plaintiffs had every right to bring the claim against Chevron, since it was able to serve notice of the enforcement claim at the company’s office in Mississauga, Ont.