Civil Liability and Human Rights in the US: The End of the ATS?

38 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2011

Date Written: July 1, 2011

Abstract

In the last fifteen years, the U.S. has been a preferred place for civil liability claims, brought by foreign plaintiffs for human rights violations committed in developing countries hosting subsidiaries of American companies, or foreign companies doing business in the US. The attraction of the U.S. forum for the victims of abuse is due to some procedural and substantive peculiarities of the American system. One of them is the Alien Tort Statute, a provision which confers universal jurisdiction in civil liability suits for violations of certain rules of customary international law. However, litigation against companies under the ATS has never been easy; the future of the ATS is at risk, particularly because of the academic doubts about its scope, as well as division within the courts and a circuit split. The outcome is an acute and costly legal uncertainty (for victims, potential defendants, for the very cause of defending human rights), which calls for a prompt intervention of Congress, or at least, of the Supreme Court.

Note: Downloadable document is in Spanish.

Keywords: Corporations, Civil Accountability, Human Rights, Alien Tort Statute, Forum Non Conveniens, Hightened Pleading Standard, Prudential Tools, Kiobel, International Law, Aid and Abet

Suggested Citation

Requejo, Marta, Civil Liability and Human Rights in the US: The End of the ATS? (July 1, 2011). InDret, Vol. 3, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1920687

Marta Requejo (Contact Author)

MPI Luxembourg ( email )

4, rue Alphonse Weicker
Luxembourg, L-2721
Luxembourg

HOME PAGE: http://www.mpi.lu

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