Gibson Dunn Finds a Misspelled Name, Uncovers Claim of Doctored Report
Gibson Dunn lawyers who noted that an expert witness had apparently misspelled his own name in letters to an Ecuadorean court believe the finding may have helped uncover evidence of fraud.
The suspicious lawyers represent Chevron in an environmental lawsuit accusing the energy company of damaging the Ecuadorean rain forest, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports, recounting a Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) story. The lawyers noted that the plaintiffs expert, Charles Calmbacher, had misspelled his own name in letters seeking an extension.
In a deposition last week, Calmbacher said he had flown back to the United States after conducting soil and water tests, and had sent presigned pages to Ecuador that would be printed over his signature, according to the Law Blog report. But the reports that were submitted exaggerated his contamination findings, he said.
Gibson Dunn lawyer Andrea Neuman told the Wall Street Journal that Calmbacher’s claim could be evidence of fraud. “This is a completely fabricated report with completely fabricated conclusions,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the plaintiffs, Karen Hinton, told the newspaper that Calmbacher’s claim was “bewildering” and that he had never before objected to the reports.
