...First came the government, then the civil plaintiffs. And for the past 10 years, Olson [former general counsel of Chiquita] and Chiquita have been living with the constant litigation hanging over them—along with the threat of hundreds of millions of dollars in liability…[over "security payments" to Colombian paramilitaries]

Chiquita has fought the complaints on a variety of fronts with some success. The defendants' attacks included, among other things, alleged lack of jurisdiction, failure to state a proper claim, extraterritoriality, failure to exhaust adequate remedies in Colombia, lack of criminal intent, statute of limitation bars and improper forum under forum non conveniens…

What's left of the plaintiffs' cases mainly rests on TVPA [Torture Victim Protection Act] claims against the remaining individual defendants, plus tort claims based on state and Colombian laws…