Supreme Court to Hear Case on Corporate Liability for Overseas Torture
The Supreme Court will hear a case on February 28, 2012 related to whether corporations can be sued in U.S. courts for violations of human rights committed abroad. This case involves Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Ltd., and Shell Transport and Trading Company PLC and considers whether corporations are immune from tort liability under the 1789 Alien Tort Statute (ATS, 28 USC 1350) for violations of nations' laws, such as for torture, extrajudicial executions or genocide; or if corporations may be sued in the same manner as any other private party defendant under the ATS for such egregious violations.
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The lower Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed the case against Royal Dutch and the Shell companies in September 2010 on the grounds that the ATS does not confer jurisdiction over civil suits against corporations. The Court of Appeals' September 2010 ruling is available here.
(See ITT's Online Archives 11102030 for summary of the Supreme Court announcing that it would hear this case.)