Human Rights Litigation against Multinationals in Practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 58-84
Author(s):  
Daniel Leader
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Group Actions ◽  
Child Labour ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Ball Rolling ◽  
Forum Non Conveniens

Daniel Leader reviews multinational human rights cases that have developed English law on jurisdiction and parent company liability. He considers the first batch of parent company cases that started the ball rolling in the 1990s, leading to the establishment of the parent company duty of care principle in Chandler v. Cape. He explains the principles of the 2019 and 2021 Supreme Court decisions in Lungowe v. Vedanta and Opkabi v. Shell, and the first trial of a parent company case, where an international auditor was found in breached of its duty to act ethically. The key principles developed on jurisdiction and forum non conveniens are explained. He reviews security and human rights cases, including recent settlements against Gemfields and Kakuzi. He also reviews supply chain cases arising from shipbreaking and child labour on Malawian tobacco farms. Procedural and practical issues concerning discovery, group actions, witness anonymity, and funding and viability of cases are outlined.

Vedanta Resources PLC and Another (Appellants) v. Lungowe and Others (U.K. Sup. Ct.)

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 1114-1138
Author(s):  
Julianne Hughes-Jennett
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Duty Of Care

On April 10, 2019, the U.K. Supreme Court (UKSC) handed down judgment in the case of Vedanta Resources PLC and Another (Appellants) v. Lungowe and Others (Respondents). The case raises important issues regarding jurisdiction and the potential for a duty of care to be imposed on a parent company in respect of harm caused by its subsidiary. The UKSC has also made clear that a duty of care could be imposed in a nonequity relationship such as in relation to a company's supply chain.

Die Haftung der Muttergesellschaft und ihres Vorstands für Menschenrechtsverletzungen im Konzern

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Nordhues
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Board Of Directors ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
The Board Of Directors

Given the increasing number of human rights violations by multinational companies, the call for liability of western companies is growing louder and louder. The question whether such liability already exists de lege lata has so far been answered only fragmentarily. With her paper on the liability of multinational companies for human rights violations, the author fills this gap. The author not only investigates the liability of a parent company, but also examines whether compliance duties of the board of directors comprise a group-wide obligation to prevent human rights violations. While an explicit implementation of such duty of care has repeatedly been considered, but not yet realised, in Germany, the French legislator has already implemented an obligation to monitor compliance with human rights. Based on this act, the author examines how the liability of multinational companies could be structured de lege ferenda.

Remarks by Beth Stephens

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 166-167
Author(s):  
Beth Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
Corporate Interests ◽  
Local Courts ◽  
Host Government

Mechanisms to hold corporations liable for human rights abuses are usually grossly inadequate. All too often, local remedies are not available because the host government and legal system are inadequate or captured by corporate interests. The subsidiary directly responsible for the abuses may not have the funds to provide an adequate remedy, and the parent corporation may not be subject to the jurisdiction of local courts. As a result, victims and survivors of abuses have attempted to follow corporate actors to their home states, through human rights litigation in U.S. and European courts. Although such litigation flourished in U.S. courts for two decades, recent Supreme Court decisions have slashed the number of U.S. human rights cases.

scholarly journals Court Decision Contra Legem or an Application of the Principle of Proportionality in Concreto?

Teisė ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 121 ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Asta Dambrauskaitė
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
National Court ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Rule ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Principle Of Proportionality

The article analyses cases of non-application of a national legal rule by cassation court judges hearing civil cases where, based on the analysis of concrete circumstances, the application of such a rule, in the opinion of judges, would lead to an infringement of the principle of proportionality and the European Convention on Human Rights. Decisions of two courts of cassation belonging to the continental law tradition (the Lithuanian Supreme Court and the French Court of Cassation) illustrate such a control of the application of the principle of proportionality in concreto. While national law is subject to an increasing impact of the case law of supranational courts, the legitimacy of such national court decisions is discussed also in the context of the transformations taking place in regard to the role of a judge.

The Duty of Care of the Parent Company: A Comparison between French Law, UK Precedents and the Swiss Proposals

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
pp. 265-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia PALOMBO
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Recent Case ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
French Law ◽  
Legislative Proposals ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Parent Companies

AbstractIn 2017, France established a due diligence statutory obligation for French parent companies to monitor extraterritorial human rights and environmental abuses committed by their off-shore affiliates. Switzerland is also considering adopting a similar law for Swiss parent companies. These obligations are comparable to the duty of care that, according to recent case law, British parent companies owe towards their subsidiaries’ neighbours. This article compares and contrasts the newly introduced French due diligence statutory obligation, the UK precedents, and two alternative Swiss legislative proposals on the due diligence and duty of care of parent companies.

Workers' Rights as Human Rights

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Savage
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Canadian Society ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse ◽  
Traditional Class ◽  
Over Time

In the wake of a series of prolabor Supreme Court decisions in Canada, the mantra of “workers' rights as human rights” has gained unprecedented attention in the Canadian labor movement. This article briefly reviews the Canadian labor movement's recent history with the Supreme Court before arguing that elite-driven judicial strategies, advocated by several academics and Canadian unions, threaten, over time, to depoliticize traditional class-based approaches to advancing workers' rights. The argument is premised on the notion that liberal human rights discourse does little to address the inequalities in wealth and power that polarize Canadian society along class lines.

Human rights and mortgage repossession: beyond property law using Article 8

Legal Studies ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Nield ◽  
Nicholas Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Property Law ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Legal Frameworks

Following the Supreme Court decisions in Manchester CC v Pinnock and Hounslow CC v Powell, this article examines the possible impact of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms upon protection of the home in creditor repossession proceedings. The central argument advanced is that, although occupiers may not all be protected through property law, they may enjoy an independent right to respect for their home under Article 8, which should be acknowledged in the legal frameworks governing creditor's enforcement rights against the home. The article suggests that the most common creditor enforcement route, through mortgage repossession proceedings, falls short in this regard. It takes as its primary focus the treatment of children in such proceedings to provide an example of the potential for a human rights-based property protection heralded by these two Supreme Court decisions.

JURISDICTION OF THE ENGLISH COURTS OVER OVERSEAS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-471
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Aristova
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Foreign Subsidiary ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
High Court ◽  
Foreign State ◽  
Forum Non Conveniens ◽  
Overseas Operations

IN Lungowe v Vedanta Resources Plc [2016] EWHC 975 (TCC), the High Court allowed a claim to be heard in England against parent company incorporated in England and its foreign subsidiary in relation to the overseas subsidiary's operations. The judge considered whether the claim against the English-domiciled defendant could be stayed on the basis of forum non conveniens, and whether jurisdiction could be established over its foreign subsidiary as a necessary and proper party to the case. The overall analysis of the judgment suggests that (1) the claims against the parent company in relation to the overseas operations of the foreign subsidiary can be heard in the English courts and (2) the existence of an arguable claim against the English-domiciled parent company also establishes jurisdiction of the English courts over the subsidiary even if the factual basis of the case occurs almost exclusively in the foreign state.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document