11th Circuit OKs Unmasking Of Plaintiffs Who Accuse Chiquita Of Funding Colombian Terrorists

[Judi Lynn]

Plaintiffs fear reprisal if they reveal their identities in the case involving Chiquita International, they have stated.
By Florida Phoenix/States Newsroom, News Partner
Jul 20, 2020 10:25 am ET

From the Florida Phoenix:

By Michael Moline

July 17, 2020

Colombians who accuse Chiquita Brands International Inc. of paying paramilitaries who killed their loved ones are not entitled to withhold their identities while litigating a massive class action in South Florida, a federal appeals court has ruled.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said the plaintiffs hadn't demonstrated that revealing their names, addresses, and other personal information would put themselves or their loved ones at risk of reprisal.

"Lacking specific evidence, the pseudonymous appellants cite general evidence showing that those who oppose paramilitary groups or paramilitary affiliated entities face risks of paramilitary violence," the court said in an unsigned opinion released Thursday.

"But this evidence does not compel the conclusion that the … plaintiffs face those risks. Indeed, their evidence focuses on human rights defenders who protest paramilitary activity in Colombia, seek land restitution in Colombia, or oppose paramilitary-affiliated entities in Colombia. The evidence does not compel the finding that litigants pursuing tort claims against a paramilitary-affiliated entity in the United States face similar risks of harm."

The litigation involves allegations that Chiquita paid $1.7 million to the AUC, known in English as the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia, during the 1990s and early 2000s — as protection money, the company initially claimed. The litigants claim the paramilitaries used the money to target banana workers, trade unionists, and social reformers.

More:
https://patch.com/florida/across-fl/11th-circuit-oks-unmasking-plaintiffs-who-accuse-chiquita-funding-colombian

So the panel is dirty. Why would they think anyone would buy their obnoxious implication that the relatives of victims will not be harmed by these death squads, who chase people down all over the world, even when they use assumed names, and change their cell phone numbers, etc., and try to become invisible? Shameful. Easy to see who will win this pretension of justice.