US Supreme Court hears Shell rights case

Supreme Court: Skeptical of US stage for foreign claims

AFP/Scanpix

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News Wires

 02 October 2012 20:02 GMT

US Supreme Court justices suggested they will shield companies from some suits alleging complicity in overseas atrocities, but the court debated how far to go in scaling back a favorite legal tool of human-rights advocates, a report said.

During arguments in Washington on accusations that two foreign-based units of Shell facilitated torture and execution in Nigeria, the justices this week questioned whether American courtrooms were the proper site for such claims, Bloomberg reported. The case centers on the two-century-old Alien Tort Statute.

“Why does this case belong in the courts of the United States when it has nothing to do with the United States other than the fact that a subsidiary of the defendant has a big operation here?” the news wire quoted Justice Samuel Alito as saying Monday, as…

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