International Trade Law News

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed a consolidated group of lawsuits attempting to hold numerous U.S. and mulinational companies in violation of the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) for conducting business in South Africa during the apartheid era. The ATCA, passed in 1789, gives district courts jurisdiction over civil actions filed by aliens for torts "committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States," such as piracy or offenses involving ambassadors. Judge John E. Sprizzo found there was no jurisdiction to entertain the cases because there had been no showing that the defendants, which included Citigroup, General Electric, DuPont, IBM, General Motors, Shell Oil and others, violated international law.

Judge Sprizzo's decision is one of the first cases interpreting the scope of the ATCA since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 124 S.Ct. 2739 (2004). In his 43 page opinion, Judge Sprizzo said, "the Supreme Court left the door at least slightly ajar for the federal courts to apply that statute to a narrow and limited class of international law violations beyond those well-recognized at the time." He indicated that "it would have been unquestionably preferable for the lower federal courts if the Supreme Court had created a bright-line rule that limited the ATCA to those violations of international law clearly recognized at the time of its enactment." He noted that "while the Sosa decision did not deliver the definitive guidance in this area that some had come to expect, nevertheless, it does dispose of the issues" raised by the defendants' motions to dismiss in the cases at hand. The plaintiffs have indicated that they will appeal the ruling.

The entire opinion can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.nftc.org/default/usa%20engage/NYSD%2002md1499%20Opinion%20from%2011-29-04.pdf.