United States Second Circuit

In the Second Circuit, a plaintiff may plead a theory of aiding and abetting liability under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). In an action brought by plaintiffs against approximately fifty corporate defendants and hundreds of "corporate Does" alleging they actively and willingly collaborated with the government of South Africa in maintaining apartheid, dismissal of plaintiffs' claims under the ATCA and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) is affirmed in part as to the TVPA claims, but vacated and remanded as to the ATCA claims where the district court erred in holding that aiding and abetting violations of customary international law cannot provide a basis for ATCA jurisdiction.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/12/2007
• Published 10/12/2007

Judges

• Present ROBERT A. KATZMANN, PETER W. HALL, Circuit Judges;  EDWARD R. KORMAN , District Judge.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Michael D. Hausfeld, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C. for Khulumani Planitiffs-Appellants., Paul L. Hoffman, Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP, Venice, CA, for Ntsebeza & Digwamaje Plaintiffs-Appellants., Robert M. Loeb, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. for Amicus Curiae United States of America., David B. Goldstein, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Leiberman, P.C., New York, NY for Amicus Curiae Republic of South Africa., Terry Collinsworth, International Labor Rights Fund, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae International Labor Organizations., Richard M. Resnik, Mandel Resnik Kaiser Moskowitz & Greenstein, New York, NY for Amici Curiae Commissioners and Committee Members of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission., Ralph G. Steinhardt, The George Wasington University Law School, Washington, D.C. for Amici Curiae International Law Scholars Philip Alston, William S. Dodge, Thomas Franck, Harold Hong-Ju Koh, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and David Weissbrodt., Beth Stephens, Rutgers School of Law, Camden, NJ for Amici Curiae International Human Rights Organizations and Bar Associations., Winston P. Nagan, University of Florida, Levin College of Law, Gainesville, FL for Amicus Curiae Institute of Human Rights, Peace, and Development., Himanshu Rajan Sharma, New York, NY for Amici Curiae South African Organizations, Unions and Political Parties Supporting the Brief of Amici Curiae Commissioners and Committee Members of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission., Richard L. Herz, EarthRights International, Washington, D.C. for Amici Curiae Career Foreign Service Diplomats., Allan Ides, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA for Amici Curiae Professors of Constitutional and International Law., Fletcher N. Baldwin, Jr., University of Florida, Levin College of Law, Gainesville, FL for Amicus Curiae Center for International Financial Crimes Studies., Jennifer M. Green, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY for Amici Curiae Concerning the Status of Apartheid as a Violation of International Law.


• For Appellees:
  
• Francis P. Barron, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, New York, NY for Defendants-Appellees.