On March 30, 2006, Donziger is in a car en route to a confrontation with Judge Germán González of Pichincha Civil Court. Chevron has asked the judge to inspect a laboratory used by plaintiffs to analyze soil samples, but the plaintiffs are about to block the judge from entering the laboratory. Plaintiffs have argued, in a point thoroughly disputed by Chevron, that the oil company behaved improperly in turning to a new judge for the laboratory inspection in Quito, without proper jurisdiction and without notice to the trial judge in Lago Agrio.
Donziger repeatedly expresses disgust over the techniques to which he says he must resort. Says Donziger: “The only language that I believe this judge is going to understand is one of pressure, intimidation, and humiliation. And that’s what we’re doing today. … As a lawyer, I never do this. You don’t have to do this in the United States. It’s dirty. … It’s necessary. I’m not letting them get away with this stuff.”
