Article
A Second Circuit Panel Follows Kiobel, Dismisses ATS [Alien Tort Statute] Claim [USA]
[In] Shan...the plaintiff sued his former employer, the China Construction Bank…, claiming that it caused his torture by reporting him to the Chinese police, which allegedly tortured…him. Plaintiff alleged violations of the Torture Victims Act and Alien Tort Statute. The Second Circuit previously had held in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum…that the Alien Tort Statute…does not provide a cause of action against corporations, only individuals and governments…[I]n Shan,…[t]he plaintiff…[argued] that Kiobel had…limited itself to private corporations, and…was not applicable to the defendant in Shan, since it was a company that was wholly-owned by the Chinese government…The bank [argued]…that corporations are not capable of being sued under the TVPA [Torture Victims Prevention Act] because that act covers violations only by individuals or governments…But the Second Circuit…chose not to reach the argument because it could dismiss the case on the failure to meet the pleading standard on the underlying causes of action…