Lago Agrio oil field US attorney, Steven Donziger, had used "corrupt means," including payment of almost US$300,000 in bribes, to obtain the 2011 court verdict in Ecuador. The judge did not rule on the underlying issue of environmental damages. While the US ruling does not affect the decision of the court in Ecuador, it has blocked efforts to collect damages from Chevron in US courts. Donziger and the two Ecuadorian defendants appealed, and on August 8, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment against them in all respects. In September 2018, the District of Columbia
S v Sikhipha had been prejudiced by the absence of a legal representative. There was no irregularity in this respect. Where, however, an accused faces a charge as serious as that of rape, with a possible life sentence, he should not only be advised of his right to a legal representative, but encouraged to exercise it. On the present facts, the accused had not been prejudiced. The appeal against conviction was dismissed, although there was an appeal against sentence which was upheld: The sentence of life imprisonment was set aside and a sentence of twenty years' imprisonment imposed instead. S v Sikhipha In