Nestle, Cargill Slavery Claims Revived by U.S. Appeals Court

[DonViejo]

Source: Bloomberg News



By Erik Larson

October 23, 2018, 12:31 PM EDT Updated on October 23, 2018, 2:36 PM EDT

Original case filed by ex-slaves in Mali was dismissed in 2017

Companies allegedly aided child labor to ensure cheap cocoa

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived a long-shot lawsuit by six former child slaves from Mali who accused food producers Nestle SA and Cargill Inc. of aiding and abetting their forced labor in African cocoa fields.

The plaintiffs seek to hold the cocoa-buying companies liable for their captivity and mistreatment on farms in neighboring Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer of the commodity. Nestle and Cargill turned a blind eye to the practice to benefit from lower prices, according to the initial lawsuit.

The appeals court panel in San Francisco overturned a ruling by a lower court judge, who dismissed the case in March 2017 on the grounds that the foreign plaintiffs had failed to show any U.S. conduct was linked the the enslavement.

Nestle and Cargill were “well aware” that child slave labor was pervasive in the country, and the companies had economic leverage that gave them control of cocoa production in the Ivory Coast, the appellate court said in its opinion. The judges said they took the ex-slaves’ “plausible allegations” as true in analyzing the case.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-23/u-s-appeals-court-revives-slavery-suit-against-nestle-cargill

[iluvtennis]

1. Hope the ex-slaves win the suit.

[melm00se]

2. I do too

but think that this should be in the appropriate jurisdiction.

Cargill I can see being sued in the US as it is a US based company. Nestle, on the other hand, is a Swiss company so I think the case should be tried in Switzerland.