Nestlé shielded from cocoa slavery claim in US by Supreme Court     

Court rejected accusations that Nestlé in the US and Cargill were complicit in the use of child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

Six individuals from Mali say they were trafficked into Ivory Coast to make cocoa as child slaves and sought to hold the US companies liable for those alleged abuses, saying major decisions about those operations were made in the US. 

The US Supreme Court gave companies a broader shield against lawsuits by victims of overseas atrocities, rejecting accusations that Nestlé in the US and global food corporation Cargill were complicit in the use of child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

The justices said the allegations against the companies lacked enough of a US connection to go forward under the 1789 Alien Tort Statute. 

The court stopped short of exempting corporations from liability under the law altogether. 

Six individuals from Mali say they were trafficked into Ivory Coast to make cocoa as child slaves. They sought to hold the US companies liable for those alleged abuses, saying major decisions about those operations were made in the US. 

“But allegations of general corporate activity – like decision-making – cannot alone establish domestic application of the ATS,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the 8-1 majority. Only Justice Samuel Alito would have let the case continue. 

The decision that rejected a ruling by the California-based US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, is the latest to limit the reach of the ATS after federal courts expanded it in the early 2000s. 

Since then, plaintiffs have sought to use that law in US courts to pursue claims for alleged rights abuses committed abroad with limited success. 

• Bloomberg