Apartheid Corporate Defendants Seek Cert
Companies accused of aiding South African apartheid have filed a U.S. Supreme Court cert petition seeking to overturn a ruling by a federal appeals court allowing lawsuits against them.
The 10 grouped lawsuits against more than 50 U.S. and foreign corporations seek more than $400 billion in damages, SCOTUSblog reports. The New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled (PDF) the suit could proceed under the Alien Tort Claims Act.
Companies fear the ruling could encourage foreign lawsuits against companies in American courts for alleged overseas misdeeds.
The cert petition (PDF) says the suit should be barred in light of objections from both South Africa and the United States, Legal Times reports. The petition also says civil suits should not be allowed for companies accused of aiding and abetting a violation of international law by a foreign government in its own territory.
Though appeals courts have permitted aiding-and-abetting cases against individuals, corporations say that under the same theory, they could wind up responsible for abuses simply by doing business in countries where governments violate human rights, the ABA Journal explained in its July 2005 article “Foreign Fight.”
The case is American Isuzu Motors Inc. v. Ntsebeza.
