Lawsuit Profiles

The Resource Centre continually tracks lawsuits and other legal actions relating to businesses' human rights performance. We regularly select a number of these lawsuits to form the basis of a Lawsuit Profile. These Profiles present a concise summary of each lawsuit to inform lawyers and legal advocates of the key facts, legal proceedings, involved parties, allegations and legal arguments.

Our Lawsuit Profiles are selected based on multiple factors, including the salience of the alleged abuse, the nature of the litigation strategy, and the potential for setting legal precedent regularly. The cases we profile fall into three categories: lawsuits brought (1) against companies to redress human rights abuses; (2) by companies against human rights defenders to silence and intimidate them.; and (3) against States for failing to regulate company behavior.

You can search for lawsuits brought against companies or governments (lawsuit profiles under categories (1) and (2)) by using either our Lawsuit Database or our pre-set filtered search here. Lawsuit profiles that fall under category (3) (that bear elements of SLAPPs) are listed further below.

New Lawsuit Profiles

Clearview AI lawsuit (re consent over scanning of online photos, USA)

In May 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and five other non-profit organisations filed a complaint against Clearview AI (Clearview) in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, USA. The plaintiffs allege that Clearview AI used facial recognition technology to capture “faceprints” from Illinois residents using online photos, without obtaining the individuals’ consent which violates Illinois legislation. In August 2021, the court denied Clearview’s application to dismiss the complaint.

Lawsuit against EDF (re indigenous rights in Mexico, filed in France)

In October 2020, representatives of the indigenous Zapotec community of Unión Hidalgo and two NGOs filed a lawsuit against Electricité de France (EDF), over its alleged failure to establish and implement appropriate measures to prevent human rights abuses and adverse environmental effects in the course of its Gunaa Sicarú project according to France’s 2017 duty of vigilance law. EDF denies the allegations.

Lawsuit against labour union president (re inciting social unrest, Cambodia)

In April 2020, Superl Holdings filed criminal charges against Cambodian local union president Soy Sros, alleging she incited social unrest by alerting the public on Facebook to Superl’s plan to dismiss workers at its factory in Phnom Penh in defiance of government-issued COVID-19 guidance. Following extensive media coverage of the case, Superl Holdings agreed to drop the criminal charges.