U.S. Supreme Court Bars Suits Against Foreign Corporations under Alien Tort Statute (April 24, 2018) [1]
On April 24, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled [3] in Jesner v. Arab Bank that foreign corporations may not be sued under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). Victims of terrorist attacks that took place in Israel and Palestinian territories between 1995 and 2005 brought the case and argued that Jordan-based Arab Bank had used its New York branch to assist in terrorist financing. Victims filed suit under the Alien Tort Statute, which gives federal courts jurisdiction over “any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” In 2013, the Court ruled [4] in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. that the ATS does not allow for suits against foreign corporations when “all the relevant conduct took place outside the United States,” but it did not resolve whether foreign corporations may be sued under the ATS at all. In Jesner the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s dismissal of the case and confirmed that the ATS cannot be used to sue foreign corporations. However, the judgment did not close all options for other human rights claims to proceed under the ATS, leaving open the possibility for suits against U.S-based corporations.