A Canadian court Tuesday granted Ecuadorean farmers and fishermen the right to attempt to seize the Canadian assets of Chevron due to a 2011 decision in an Ecuadorean court that found the company liable for nearly three decades of soil and water pollution and the ruined health and livelihoods of people living in nearby areas of the Amazon rainforest.

In the intervening period, the victims have been trying to collect roughly $18 billion in environmental damages. Chevron responded by filing its own lawsuit that argued the verdict was won through fabrication of evidence and bribery.

Paul Barrett of Bloomberg Businessweek talks with “Democracy Now!” on Friday about how oil corporations including Chevron and BP are fighting lawsuits brought against them by attacking the lawyers handling the cases.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

‘Democracy Now!’: