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Article

10 Aug 2011

Author:
Lawrence Hurley, Greenwire blog, New York Times

Supreme Court May Consider Whether Companies Can Be Sued Over Human Rights [USA]

Recent court rulings on the question of whether oil companies and other multinationals can be sued in U.S. courts for alleged human rights violations overseas has made the issue ripe for Supreme Court intervention...Although it is notoriously tough to predict whether the high court will take a case, the chances appear reasonably high in large part because there is a split within the federal appeals court on the issue. There is also the possibility that the court could pass on Kiobel but then take up one of the other cases at a later date. "Although it's not clear which of the individual cases the court will review, it seems to be virtually certain that the justices will take up this question within the next two terms," said Supreme Court expert Tom Goldstein of the Goldstein, Howe & Russell law firm...Attorneys for the corporate defendants dispute whether the 11th Circuit has really tackled the question head-on. They also have high hopes that the D.C. Circuit will reverse itself after the en banc rehearing...

Part of the following timelines

Article explores reasoning & ramifications of US Appeals Court decision in case alleging human rights abuses by Shell in Nigeria

Rio Tinto lawsuit (re Papua New Guinea)

ExxonMobil lawsuit (re Aceh)

Firestone lawsuit (re Liberia)