U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan's 497-page decision in Chevron Corporation v. Donzinger contains some interesting color about how Steven Donziger, the lawyer who was pursuing what Judge Kaplan characterizes as a fraudulently obtained judgment against Chevron, called in support from then-attorney general of New York Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli. Mr. DiNapoli was the sole trustee of the New York State pension fund, which owned about half a billion dollars worth of Chevron stock. The Kaplan opinion says that "in response to lobbying efforts by Donziger's team," Mr. DiNapoli "repeatedly urged Chevron to settle" and "even wrote a Huffington Post piece" urging such a settlement. Karen Hinton, a former Cuomo aide, worked with Donziger to advance the case against Chevron.
Ms. Hinton wrote a Politico article defending herself in advance of Judge Kaplan's ruling.
A quick read of the decision indicates it's a good thing for Chevron shareholders that the company ignored Mr. DiNapoli's advice to settle and instead mounted a vigorous legal defense led by Randy Mastro of Gibson, Dunn.