In a win for the Ecuadorean rain forest contaminated by Texaco's oil-drilling operations between 1972 and 1990, the country's highest court upheld a pollution ruling against Chevron, which has since acquired Texaco. In a win for Chevron, the Ecuadorean Supreme Court halved the amount awarded the plaintiffs, upholding the original $9.5 billion verdict but tossing out punitive damages that increased the penalty to $19 billion after Chevron refused to publicly apologize.

Chevron, which doesn't hold any assets in Ecuador and is refusing to pay the plaintiffs, insists that the judgment "is as illegitimate and unenforceable today as it was when it was issued two years ago."

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"We believe the 220 page decision was reasonable, fair and a clear victory for environmental justice," said Han Shan, the spokesperson for the legal team representing the Ecuadorean villagers, in a statement. "We hope that Chevron, who has now had multiple days in court, complies with the law and the clean up of the Amazon can finally begin."

The two-decades-ong saga, though, is far from over. From the Wall Street Journal: