Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. Legal Brief
Case Identity: Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 569 U.S.
Facts: Plaintiffs are residents of Nigeria, who claim that Dutch, British, and Nigerian corporations engaged in aggressive oil exploration and production, aided and abetted the Nigerian government in committing violations of the law of nations related to crimes against humanity and human rights abuses. Royal Dutch and Shell are parent companies incorporated in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom respectively; Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is incorporated in Nigeria. Since 1958, SPCD has conducted oil exploration and production in the Ogoni region of Nigeria. Protesting SPDC’s activities in the region, Ogoni
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In this case the primary plaintiff, Esther Kiobel sued in a federal court in New York the accused, alleging they helped and encouraged the Nigerian government to execute his husband Doctor Barinem Kiobel, an environmentalist, in an effort to suppress protests against its operations in Nigeria summarily.
Discussion/Legal Reasoning: "The Alien Torts Act (ATS) gives federal district courts jurisdiction over claims by an alien for wrongdoings only, committed in violation of International Customary Law or a treaty of the United States." (28 U.S.C. § 1350).
Back in 2004, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the ATS in Sosa vs. Alvarez-Machain, a case regarding the forced disappearance of a Mexican citizen in Mexico, perpetrated by a former Mexican official. The Court ruled that the ATS applied to a narrow set of internationally recognized violations that are universally condemned, and that would render the accused a “hostis humani generis, or enemy of all mankind”, no matter where they take place including slavery, genocide, and war crimes, and that it is a jurisdictional statute only; it does not create cause of action. Justice Souter explained, that the drafters of the Statute assumed that the common law would provide a cause of action for the limited number of international law infractions with a potential for personal liability at the time."(CaseLaw 2012). “Indeed, at the time of its inception, the ATS "allow federal courts to hear
“On the way up was a bridge over a cascading stream they had to cross; and under the bridge lived a great ugly troll, with eyes as big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker.”
Yaser Esam Hamdi is an American citizen born in Louisiana in 1980. In 2001, Hamdi was captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and turned over to the United States as an enemy combatant. The United States government detained and interrogated Hamdi in Afghanistan until they moved him to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. government found out that Hamdi was an American citizen and transferred him to a brig in Norfolk, Virginia and then later to a brig in Charleston, South Carolina. The government labeled Hamdi as an enemy combatant and said that justified the holding of Hamdi indefinitely without any formal charges. The injury suffered by Hamdi is that he has been interrogated and being held in prison indefinitely with no formal charge. Along with that, Hamdi had not been granted any of his rights as an American citizen. In June 2002, Esam Fouad Hamdi, Yaser Hamdi’s father filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a federal district court. The district court appointed a public defender to Hamdi and ordered for him to have access to Hamdi, so the government appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the government stating that the district court had failed to respect the government’s security. The case then went back to the district court, where the decision was that the evidence set forth by the government was not enough to detain Hamdi. The district court then reversed its ruling because
From year-end 2004 through the first-quarter 2008, defendant Brian Fox misled the investing public by fraudulently inflating the revenue and assets and fraudulently omitting major liabilities, of Powder River Petroleum International, Inc. (“Powder River” or the “company”) in the company’s Commission filings, and by making other false and misleading public disclosures. From year-end 2004, Powder River conveyed working interests in oil and gas leases to investors in Asia for over $43 million. Because Powder River promised full repayment of the working interest
The appellant company (Youyang) was trustee of a discretionary trust formed in 1974 for the Hayward family. Minter Ellison Morris Fletcher’s (Minters) had been acting for EC Consolidated Capital Limited (ECCCL) since July 1991, all work in connection with the drafting of the documents relating to the subscription for preference shares in ECCCL was dealt with by Minters. As part of the subscription agreement Youyang deposited $500,000 in Minters trust account. Minters was entitled to release a section of the fund from the trust account to ECCCL for the purchase of a bearer deposit certificate to be issued by Dresdner International Financial Markets (Australia) Ltd (DAL), which could then be traded on the money market. When the certificate was obtained Minters then had the right to release the remainder of the funds to ECCCL based on the subscription agreement.
In Padilla v. Rumsfeld, an American citizen was arrested in Chicago as he stepped off an airplane. Federal authorities received a tip that he was planning on conducting a terrorist attack using a dirty bomb. However, they did not have enough evidence to arrest him on the charge of terrorism and was subsequently held as a material witness. He was transferred to military custody and was sent to a prison in South Carolina. Over the next several years, his attorney's sued to the federal government alleging that he was being held without due process of law. In 2012, the Supreme Court denied to hear the case. They referred the matter back to US Court of Appeals. They dismissed the case, based upon the fact that the plaintiff's attorneys named Rumsfeld as the defendant. Instead, they should have named the military commander of the prison as the defendant. This means that the government can still hold onto Padilla and that his attorneys will have to re file using the proper procedures. ("Padilla v. Rumsfeld," 2012)
Advanced Fuels Corporation (AFC) was founded five years ago by Dr. Zachary Aplin. In the fourth year of research he and his two –member staff made a major break-through that can convert grain waste products into ethanol which can mix with gasoline to produce a better burning automobile fuel. Producing ethanol from waste products would lower its cost dramatically so the market potential of the blended fuel would be increased. After AFC receiving a patent for Dr. Aplin’s unique ethanol production process he decided to broaden the scope of operations of the company but he doesn’t have additional funds to put in. So, he developed
The petition alleges that the preventable death of the daughters of Ms. Gonzales and the damage they suffered violate her rights to life and to the safety of the person enshrined in Article I, her right to privacy and family life provided in article V, his right to protection of the family, provided in article VI, his right to protection of motherhood and childhood, in accordance with article VII and his right to the inviolability of the home, provided in article IX of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (hereinafter, "the American Declaration"). The petitioners add that the fact that the United States did not investigate Ms. González's complaint or provide her with a remedy violates her right to justice, enshrined in Article XVIII, as well as her right to obtain a quick decision from the courts. authorities, provided for in Article XXIV. Finally, the petition maintains that the fact that the United States did not ensure the substantive rights provided for in the articles listed violates Ms. Gonzales' right to equality, as provided in Article II. In response to the petition, the State argues that the petitioners' complaints are inadmissible because the alleged victim did not exhaust domestic
Financial statements could be examined with varied degrees, as part of the client acceptance procedures Paige CPA got to perform a horizontal and vertical analysis, and financial ratio analysis of Vinand Petroleum financial statements. These procedures are not as in depth as other procedures used by auditors on financial statements, but these procedures may show areas of concern for auditors. From 2006 to 2007, Vinand’s long term debt tripled and its interest expense paid for the year did not reflect this drastic increase. This could mean that Vinand has taken on a large amount of debt with a low interest rate, which will not bode well for the financial health of the company in the future. In the same breadth,
There was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that Barnes did understand the label to constitute a representation in the form suggested. It was found that Glendale was negligent and in all circumstances, it was considered there was a duty on Glendale to include in the packaging a warning as to the consequences of using corrosive product with hot water in a confined space such as a drain. There was no specific defect with the caustic soda but the issue is whether it was defective within the meaning of Section 75AC. It was found by the court the label to be defective within the meaning of section 75AC.
Several examples of a violation of privacy are found in court cases regarding drones [4]. In Dow Chemical Co. v. United States, Dow Chemical filed suit against the EPA for contracting a commercial aerial photographer to provide images of the Dow Chemical manufacturing facility. In California v. Ciraolo, a small airplane was used to photograph backyard marijuana cultivation in order to obtain a search warrant.
As long-term valuation is assumed, risk free rate is set as 30-year treasury rate, 5.73%. Cost of debt is 6.72% reflecting Amoco’s credit level. Cost of equity is calculated as 10.63%, leading to final WACC at 8.85% (Chart 1).
The Alien Tort Claims Act was enacted in 1789 in order to protect ambassadors and to try pirates in court. The was not used often until it was rediscovered during the 1990’s as a way for labor and progressive lawyers a way to bring suits against the MNCs anywhere in the world, not just in America. There have been over 125 cases in over 60 countries, only two cases have ever actually made it to court. Most cases are either dismissed early or the lawyers settle outside of court(Bethel, 2017).
Hanover-Bates Chemical Corporation produces chemicals for the chemical plating industry. It has plants in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Newark. The production process involves taking chemicals purchased from other suppliers and mixing them into user-based formulas. The Hanover-Bates has a strong balance sheet and trades on the over-the-counter market. There are seven sales districts within the organization with a total of forty sales representatives. Each receives a salary, fringe benefits, and commissions of 0.5 percent of their dollar sales volume up to their sales quota. Field sales efforts are extremely important and quality control is critical with supplying the plater with the
Pioneer Petroleum Corporation (PPC) has two major problems that are interfering with the goal of the firm to maximize shareholder wealth. The first is that PPC has been calculating their weighted average cost of capital incorrectly, by incorrectly calculating their after tax cost of debt and their cost of equity. This miscalculation has subjected PPC to more risk and has hurt the company’s ability to make appropriate investment decisions. This has also led PPC to accepting investment decisions that should not have been included within their acceptable range. Second, PPC has been using a single company-wide rate for their multi-divisional company. In either instance the company is not
Violation of Human Rights, destruction of the environment, and denial of freedom of speech and congregation are the ethical issues raised in this case. The Human Rights violations are many. The Nigerian special police force raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds who spoke out against the tyrannical government. All together they killed 2,000 Ogoni, razed 27 villages and displaced over 80,000 people who fled into the bush as refugees. The oil spills by the Shell Company, the lying of the pipeline across farmlands, and