Supreme Court Docket Report - October 17, 2011

Keywords: alient tort statute, torture victim protection act, corporate liability

Today the Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases of interest to the business community:

Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act—Corporate Liability

The Supreme Court granted certiorari today in two cases addressing whether corporations, as opposed to individuals, can be held liable in civil suits alleging human rights abuses committed abroad. The cases, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, No. 10-1491, and Mohamad v. Rajoub, No. 11-88, will be argued in tandem.

The Alien Tort Statute ("ATS") grants federal courts jurisdiction over a tort claim brought by an alien who alleges that the tort was "committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 1350. Kiobel presents two questions under the ATS: first, whether the issue of corporate liability under the ATS is a question of subject