Judge Penalizes Unocal Over Late Submission

Unocal Corp. has been penalized for submitting more than 1,300 pages of documents late in the civil case in which the oil giant is accused of being complicit in human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Victoria Gerrard Chaney ruled Wednesday that Unocal must provide witnesses and pay for any new depositions related to the recently released documents. The move could lead to a delay of the trial scheduled to begin Sept. 22.

The case involves 15 unidentified refugees from the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma who say El Segundo-based Unocal shares responsibility for slavery, murder and rape. The plaintiffs say the acts were carried out by Myanmar’s military during the construction in the mid-1990s of the $1.2-billion Yadana natural gas pipeline. The pipeline was built by a consortium that included two subsidiaries of Unocal.

The documents, which were turned over in May by Unocal’s lawyers, may lead to new depositions involving 15 to 20 witnesses, said Dan Stormer, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Chaney declined to grant the plaintiffs’ motions to impose more severe sanctions against Unocal, including the exclusion of prior testimony from Unocal experts who had access to the documents.