Thirteen law firms around the country have told the Attorney General's Office they are interested in helping the state make a case against ChevronTexaco Corp., which allegedly owes an estimated $563 million in Hawaii back taxes. 13 law firms interested
in state Chevron lawsuit
By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comIn the next several weeks, the state will be selecting lawyers who are willing to work on a contingency-fee basis, said state Attorney General Earl Anzai. The attorneys must also pay for the costs of litigation, which could potentially run in the millions of dollars, Anzai said.
Yesterday was the deadline for submissions, though more could come in by mail, Anzai noted. He declined to identify the firms, but said many are relatively large and work in major U.S. cities.
Anzai's move came in response to a September report by two accounting professors that Chevron underpaid its state and federal taxes by billions of dollars, allegedly by paying inflated prices for crude oil to its Indonesian joint venture. Chevron paid $675 million to settle an Internal Revenue Service inquiry into the matter in 1994. The firm has said the report raised nothing new.
Last week, Chevron spokesman Albert Chee dismissed the report as being meritless, and said any Hawaii liability would have been covered by the IRS settlement. Anzai questioned how a federal decision could affect a state tax matter. Anzai said the state will be able to examine the whole story once it hires lawyers.
"All of this is going to be looked at by some very high-powered people who are willing to risk their time and their money," Anzai said.
Earlier this year, the state dropped a $2 billion antitrust lawsuit against Chevron and Hawaii's major oil companies for a settlement of $35 million.
