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The Settlement Agreement in Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (S.D.N.Y. 2009)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Ralph G. Steinhardt*
Affiliation:
The George Washington University Law School

Abstract

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Type
International Legal Materials
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2009

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References

1 Press Release, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Shell Settles Wiwa Case with Humanitarian Gesture (June 8, 2009), available at http://www.shell.com/home/content/media/news_and_library/press_releases/2009/shell_settlement_wiwa_case_08062009.html.

2 The cases were also filed under the Torture Victim Protection Act, codified at 28 U.S.C. 1350, and the case against Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and Trading Company was filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968 (West 2000 & Supp. 2006).

3 630 F.2d 876 (2d Cir. 1980).

4 See, e.g., Chavez v. Carranza, 559 F.3d 486 (6th Cir. 2009) (torture, extrajudicial killing, crime against humanity); Cabello v. Fernandez-Larios, 402 F.3d 1148 (11th Cir. 2005) (extrajudicial killing, torture, crimes against humanity, and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment); Hilao v. Estate of Marcos, 25 F.3d 1467 (9th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1126 (1995) (torture, summary execution, arbitrary detention); Kadic v. Karadzic, 70 F.3d 232 (2d Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 518 U.S. 1005 (1996) (torture, genocide, war crimes); Abebe- Jira v. Negewo, 72 F.3d 844 (11th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 830 (1996) (torture, sexual assault); Mehinovic v. Vuckovic, 198 F. Supp. 2d 1232 (N.D. Ga. 2002) (genocide).

5 See, e.g., Abdullahi v. Pfizer, 562 F.3d 163 (2d Cir. 2009); Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc., 582 F.3d 244 (2d Cir. 2009); Saleh v. Titan Corp., 580 F.3d 1(D.C. Cir. 2009); Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., 579 F.3d 943 (9th Cir. 2009); Sarei v. Rio Tinto, PLC, 550 F.3d 822 (9th Cir. 2008); Vietnam Ass’n for Victims of Agent Orange v. Dow Chem., 517 F.3d 104 (2d Cir. 2008); Romero v. Drummond Co., Inc., 552 F.3d 1303 (11th Cir. 2008); Corrie v. Caterpillar, 503 F.3d 974 (9th Cir. 2007); Khulumani v. Barclay Nat. Bank Ltd., 509 F.3d 148 (2d Cir. 2007), judgment aff’d sub nom. American Isuzu Motors, Inc. v. Ntsebeza, 128 S. Ct. 2424 (2008); Aguinda v. Texaco, 303 F.3d 470 (2d Cir. 2002).

6 Doe I v. Unocal, 395 F.3d 932 (9th Cir. 2002), vacated en banc, 395 F.3d 978 (9th Cir. 2003), dismissal approved, 403 F.3d 708 (9th Cir. 2005).

7 Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 725 (2004).

8 Kadic, 70 F.3d 232.

9 Id.

10 See, e.g., Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide art. IV, Dec. 9, 1948, 78 U.N.T.S. 277, 280, and common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

11 542 U.S. at 732 n. 20.

12 Compare e.g., Khulumani v. Barclay Nat. Bank Ltd., 509 F.3d 148 with Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc., 582 F.3d 244.

13 See, e.g., Catherine Rampell, Yahoo Settles With Chinese Families, Wash. Post, Nov. 14, 2007, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/13/AR2007111300885.html; Robert Collier & Jenny Strasburg, Clothiers Fold on Sweatshop Lawsuit, S.F. Chron., Sept. 27, 2002, available at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/09/27/MN180746.DTL; In re Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation, 413 F.3d 183 (2d Cir. 2005).

14 See, e.g., Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 226 F.3d 88 (2d Cir. 2000), cert denied 532 U.S. 941 (2001) (personal jurisdiction); Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., __ F. Supp. 2d__, 2002 WL 319887 (S.D.N.Y. 2002) (actionability of various claims); Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., __ F. Supp. 2d__, 2006 WL 2637836 (S.D.N.Y. 2006) (discovery).

15 See generally 1-3 Report of the International Commission of Jurists Expert Legal Panel on Corporate Complicity in International Crimes (2008); Report, John Ruggie, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, Business and Human Rights: Towards Operationalizing the ‘‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’’ Framework, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/11/13 (Apr. 22, 2009).