In Short - The Situation: In the last month, two courts in the Ninth Circuit allowed human rights focused cases to proceed beyond the pleading stage. These cases seek to impose liability on U.S.-based companies for alleged...more
International corporates are coming under growing pressure from claimants seeking to hold them liable for acts committed overseas, often by subsidiaries or suppliers. Claimant firms in the U.S. and the UK are finding...more
Courts and legislatures both in the United States and abroad continue to prioritize the eradication of labor trafficking in corporate supply chains, including those in the health care industry. For example, in the United...more
The Supreme Court decided a number of significant business cases in the 2019 and 2020 terms. To outside observers, the decisions are characterized largely by continuity and incrementalism—we did not see a swinging pendulum of...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently handed down its decision on the scope of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), following an appeal by Nestle USA, Inc., the U.S. affiliate of Swiss-based Nestle (Nestle USA), and Cargill, Inc....more
On June 17, the U.S. Supreme Court held that U.S. corporations are not liable for alleged abuses against non-U.S. citizens in foreign countries merely because general operational decisions made in the United States...more
In a decision issued June 17, the US Supreme Court further limited the ability of plaintiffs to seek redress in US courts for human rights abuses that occur overseas, but did not go as far in restricting those suits as some...more
In Nestle, six citizens of Mali claimed they were trafficked into and enslaved on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. Pursuant to the ATS, these former child slaves sought to impose liability upon Nestle, Cargill, and other U.S....more
On June 17, 2021, in Nestle USA Inc. v. Doe, the United States Supreme Court reversed a Ninth Circuit decision that would have allowed foreign cocoa workers to pursue claims against Nestlé USA, Inc. (Nestle), Cargill, Inc....more
A recent Supreme Court decision declines to apply the ATS to general corporate activity in the United States to reach violations of international law alleged to occur in other countries. The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) requires...more
What follows is a brief account of some of the notable U.S. environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution vests the President, with the advice...more
Key Takeaways - In its just-issued opinion in Nestle USA, Inc. v. Doe, No. 19-416, slip op. (2021), the Supreme Court reaffirmed its holding from Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 569 U. S. 108 (2013), that the Alien Tort...more
California v. Texas, Nos. 19-840, 19-1019: The Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, as it is commonly known, requires individuals to maintain a minimum level of health insurance coverage. As originally passed, the Act...more
On June 17, 2021, the Supreme Court held in Nestle USA, Inc. v. Doe I, that a plaintiff seeking domestic application of the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350 (“ATS”), must demonstrate that the facts giving rise to the...more
Lawyers can “Break Bad” and veer from ethical and professional standards. Somehow this is not so hard to envision. Legal misconduct occurs more than most expect. And the system reacts in variety of ways – professional...more
The first months of the Supreme Court’s 2020 term have had an aura of fatigue: a nation gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, a court adjusting to a new colleague and an unusually light caseload (to be argued by telephone)....more
On December 1, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in a pair of related cases presenting questions about the scope of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), a frequent topic of debate before the Court in recent years. In...more
On September 23, 2020, a panel of Skadden attorneys hosted a webinar entitled “Key Supreme Court Cases From the 2019-20 Term and a Look Ahead to the 2020-21 Term.” Panelists Julie Bédard, Boris Bershteyn, Jocelyn E. Strauber...more
In this episode, recorded on Sept. 14, Akin Gump Supreme Court and appellate practice co-head Pratik Shah returns to review the 2019 Supreme Court Term and preview the big cases and topics in the October 2020 Term. Among...more
Key Takeaways - Slave, forced, and child labor is a modern-day reality impacting some 40 million people throughout the world, by some estimates. Such practices are—and have always been—repugnant, and certainly have no place...more
Courts and legislatures both in the United States and abroad continue to prioritize the eradication of labor trafficking in corporate supply chains. Labor trafficking litigation in the United States remains widespread and...more
Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe I, No. 19-416; Cargill, Inc. v. Doe I, No. 19-453: 1) Whether an aiding and abetting claim against a domestic corporation brought under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. §1350, may overcome the...more
Legislatures and courts, both in the United States and abroad, are working toward the eradication of labor trafficking in corporate supply chains. In the United States, consumers have sued manufacturers for failing to...more
Responses to Gender Pay Inequity: A Quick World Tour - Most major jurisdictions have pay equity laws, but their approach is far from uniform. Global companies need to evaluate compliance with these laws on a...more
Legal developments in the field of international law continue to be dynamic and expanding, through national legislation, common law and transnational tort suits, new soft law instruments and drafting exercises, institutional...more