[DEBATE] : Apartheid court case can go ahead in US

[Michael K. Dorsey]

NOTABLE QUOTABLE: "Several [US Supreme Court] justices had earlier  
expressed a dim view of the apartheid “reparations” litigation, but  
the court was unable to intervene because too many justices held  
stock in or had some family connections with the companies involved,  
and so had conflicts of interest that prevented them from sitting on  
the case."


Apartheid court case can go ahead in US

By Patti Waldmeir in Washington

Published: May 12 2008 22:59 | Last updated: May 12 2008 22:59

Dozens of US and foreign companies will be forced to fight off costly  
lawsuits claiming that they helped South Africa’s white rulers  
repress blacks during the apartheid era, after the US Supreme Court  
failed to intervene on Monday.

ExxonMobil, IBM, Credit Suisse and 30 other companies had tried to  
persuade the court to reverse an appeals court ruling that had  
allowed the apartheid case, American Isuzu Motors v Ntsebeza, to  
proceed.

Several justices had earlier expressed a dim view of the apartheid  
“reparations” litigation, but the court was unable to intervene  
because too many justices held stock in or had some family  
connections with the companies involved, and so had conflicts of  
interest that prevented them from sitting on the case.

The Supreme Court’s failure to act will allow the lawsuit, which at  
one point claimed $400bn in damages, to go forward in a New York court.

But this does not guarantee victory to the plaintiffs, apartheid  
victims who claim big multinational companies aided and abetted  
apartheid South Africa’s violations of international law.

The Bush administration had backed the companies before the Supreme  
Court, saying that the lawsuit, “effectively seeks to overturn South  
Africa’s post-apartheid policy of reconciliation”.

The case involves the Alien Tort Statute, which allows non-US  
citizens to bring suit in US federal courts for some violations of  
international law.

The US business community has been struggling for years to persuade  
the Supreme Court to limit such Alien Tort suits and yesterday’s move  
constitutes a setback for this effort.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008