Alien Tort Case Development: The Second Circuit Assesses The Appropriate Focus Of Jurisdictional Inquiries

On October 23, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Mastafa v. Chevron Corp., a case filed against Chevron Corp. and BNP Paribas pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute ("ATS"). The court upheld the District Court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' complaint. In upholding the dismissal, the court held that the "focus" of the jurisdictional inquiry in ATS cases must be the specific conduct that allegedly violated the law of nations and where that conduct occurred.

The case involves allegations that Chevron and BNP Paribas aided and abetted human rights abuses by representatives of the Government of Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime. Plaintiffs specifically alleged that the companies made or facilitated unlawful payments to the Saddam Hussein regime in connection with the regime's participation in the United Nations' Oil for Food Programme ("OFP").