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  Lawsuits & regulatory action against companies: General materials Jan.-June 2002  

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Jan.-June 2002:

Chinese Workers' Rights Stop at Courtroom Door - The government has granted workers only one imperfect weapon to defend themselves during the country's bumpy transition from socialism to capitalism: filing a lawsuit. Over the past decade, the number of workers doing so has skyrocketed, from barely 17,000 in 1992 to nearly half a million in 2000, according to government statistics...But it [the Communist Party] has refused to establish a truly independent judiciary, fearful that doing so might threaten its monopoly on power. (Philip P. Pan, Washington Post, 28 June 2002)

Corporate Human Rights -...For several years, a small group of lawyers and labor advocates has been trying to hold transnational companies responsible for their actions by suing them in the United States for abetting and/or benefiting from human rights abuses overseas. [refers to lawsuits against Unocal, Shell, Texaco, Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, DynCorp, Drummond Company, ExxonMobil] (David Corn, The Nation, 27 June 2002)

Workers, employers may take disputes to court [Indonesia] - The House of Representatives is expected to pass soon a long-awaited bill on the settlement of industrial disputes, which will allow workers and employers to take their disputes to labor courts. (Jakarta Post, 27 June 2002)

Internationally Binding Legislation and Litigation for the Enforcement of Labour Rights - This international seminar brought together lawyers, NGOs and Trade Unions to explore the legal possibilities for holding multinational corporations (MNCs) responsible for labour rights in their operations outside their home countries. (Clean Clothes Campaign and IRENE, report on seminar held in Germany, 26 - 28 June 2002)

£22,000 for transsexual sacked from job [UK] - A post-operative transsexual has received £22,000 in a settlement after she claimed she was discriminated against in her job as a production-line worker [at Structural Polymer Systems]. (Ananova, 25 June 2002)

Suits Say Wal-Mart Forces Workers to Toil Off the Clock [USA] - Federal and state laws bar employers from making hourly employees work unpaid hours. Wal-Mart's policies forbid such work. But many current and former workers and managers said an intense focus on cost cutting had created an unofficial policy that encouraged managers to request or require off-the-clock work and avoid paying overtime. Accusations like these are at the heart of a wide-ranging legal battle between Wal-Mart and employees or former employees in 28 states. (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 25 June 2002)

Who's Mixing Your Drugs? Bad medicine [USA]: Pharmacy mix-ups a recipe for misery - Some drugstores operate with very little oversight -...Thousands of neighborhood pharmacies across the country make hundreds of compounded products. Yet there is little oversight by either federal or state regulators to ensure that drugs made by compounders are safe or effective...The case of Doc's Pharmacy illustrates how doctors, as well as their patients, are unaware of the risks inherent in pharmacy compounding. The contaminated drug ultimately killed three patients and hospitalized 10 others. It shattered lives, prompted one suicide and has spawned a series of lawsuits. (Erin Hallissy, Sabin Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 June 2002)

RJR hit with $15M in damages [USA] - Federal judge slaps tobacco firm R.J. Reynolds with $15M in punitive damages in smoker case - A federal judge ordered cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. Friday to pay $15 million in punitive damages to a smoker whose legs were amputated, the latest in a string of multimillion-dollar awards against the industry. In setting the punitive damages, U.S. District Court Judge John Lungstrum called RJR's concealment of the addictive nature of tobacco "particularly nefarious." (Reuters, 21 June 2002)

Jury Awards $5.5 Million in a Secondhand Smoke Case [USA] - The nation's biggest tobacco companies [Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, Lorillard and Brown & Williamson] suffered their first defeat in a secondhand smoke case this week, and they said yesterday that they would use the setback to challenge a critical ruling governing the $349 million settlement they struck with the nation's flight attendants nearly five years ago (Greg Winter, New York Times, 20 June 2002)

Sexism in the City appeal dropped [UK] - Julie Bower, the former shares analyst who won her sex discrimination case against Schroder Securities, will now receive £1.4 million compensation, after Schroders dropped their appeal against the tribunal's decision. Ms Bower's case was supported by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). (Equal Opportunities Commission [UK], 19 June 2002)

US residents can sue for nuke exposure - court - A federal appeals court yesterday ruled thousands of Washington state residents could sue over illnesses blamed on a Cold War plutonium plant, reversing a lower court dismissal of most of the claims...Many of the plaintiffs claimed radiation had caused thyroid cancer, as well as bone, breast and salivary cancer...The defendants include several industrial companies that ran the plant until 1986, including General Electric Co. and DuPont Co. (Reuters, 19 June 2002)

PACE International Union and Ponca Tribe Initiate Legal Action Against Continental Carbon Over Environmental Violations [USA]: Protest at Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality over Agency Inaction - The Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) and representatives of the Ponca Indian Tribe today served Continental Carbon Company and its Taiwan- based parent companies, China Synthetic Rubber Company and Taiwan Cement Corp., with a "Notice of Intent to Sue" for alleged violations of state and federal environmental laws in Ponca City, Okla. (PACE International Union, 19 June 2002)

Cleaner who lost 60p an hour wins equal pay claim [UK] - A woman cleaner who found out she was earning 60p less per hour than a man who worked as a cleaner for the same company [Hannant Cleaning Services in Norwich] has won her case of sex discrimination and victimisation, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) announced today. (Equal Opportunities Commission [UK], 18 June 2002)

Apartheid victims sue big business -...A team of American and South African lawyers is about to file a $50bn class action suit in New York against Swiss and US banks accused of backing the former apartheid regime [suing Citigroup, Credit Suisse & UBS for allegedly profiting from loans to the white South African government while a UN embargo was in force] (BBC News, 17 June 2002)

Court OKs Amex Discrimination Settlement [USA] - A federal court has approved a $31 million settlement of a nationwide gender and age discrimination lawsuit against American Express Co.'s financial advisers unit, plaintiffs' lawyers said on Monday. (Reuters, 17 June 2002)

Age-bias claims up 23% over two years [USA]: It is the fastest-growing category of discrimination cases. Complaints tend to rise as layoffs increase. - On June 6, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Philadelphia office filed a lawsuit against Honeywell, seeking class-action status. (Jane M. Von Bergen, Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 June 2002)

Bad business in Burma - In a boon for human rights and corporate responsibility, a Superior Court judge in California last week refused to dismiss a suit charging that the energy company Unocal is liable for human rights abuses perpetrated by the military junta in Burma while the regime was under contract to provide security for Unocal and its partners in a natural gas pipeline project. (editorial, Boston Globe, 16 June 2002)

U.S. firms face suits for overseas acts: New twist on anti-pirate law blurs borders, extends liability ...Some suits charge companies with polluting foreign lands, others with violating human rights [refers to lawsuits in U.S. courts against Unocal, ChevronTexaco, Gap, Levi Strauss] (David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 June 2002)

ExxonMobil-Sponsored Terrorism? Why are villagers in the Aceh province of Indonesia--or their lawyers--worrying about contributions from Exxon Mobil to George W. Bush and the Republicans? - A year ago, the Washington-based International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against the energy behemoth, claiming the Mobil half of the conglomerate in the 1990s paid and supported Indonesian military troops that committed human rights abuses in the war-torn province. (David Corn, The Nation, 14 June 2002)

Human Rights in China Files Lawsuit Against the Bank of China -...charging that the BOC [Bank of China] assisted the government of China in the confiscation of humanitarian funds destined for the surviving families of the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre. (Human Rights in China, 14 June 2002)

McDonald's and Coke fund healthy eating drive - Fast food companies including McDonald's and Coca-Cola are helping to fund a multimillion pound advertising campaign urging Americans to eat more healthily. In an effort to avoid tobacco-style lawsuits, food giants including Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Heinz are to use internet, TV and press ads to warn consumers that eating too much fast food will make them fat. (Claire Cozens, Guardian [UK], 14 June 2002)

Microsoft Israel fired man for being gay, court told - Since January, Tel Aviv District Labor Court has been sitting in camera on a lawsuit filed by a man who claims he was fired from Microsoft Israel because he is homosexual. The company adamantly rejects the man's contention, saying that his dismissal had nothing to do with his sexual orientation but was due to his poor professional performance. It is the first lawsuit filed in Israel on such grounds. (Ran Reznick, Ha'aretz [Israel], 13 June 2002)

Unocal Faces Trial For Rights Abuses -...Yesterday in California, a judge asserted international jurisdiction in a way that some U.S. companies may not be so happy about. A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles ordered Unocal to stand trial for human rights abuses allegedly committed in association with a pipeline project in Myanmar. Judge Victoria Chaney denied a Unocal motion for summary judgment (Dan Ackman, Forbes, 12 June 2002)

Taiwan workers mull US lawsuit over toxins - Taiwanese workers who used to make televisions and semiconductors for a US-owned factory have told officials here that employees at the plant suffered illnesses because they were unknowingly exposed to toxic chemicals. More than 200 employees of a former Radio Corp of America (RCA) facility in Taiwan's northern county of Taoyuan died, and about 1,500 still suffer from cancer, said the workers...Richard Knoph, a spokesman for RCA's current owner, Thomson Multimedia of France, denied any correlation between the workers' illnesses and the facility (Danielle Knight, Inter Press Service, in Asia Times, 11 June 2002)

Thompsons set to help SA's asbestosis victims [South Africa] - Thompsons Solicitors, the UK's largest personal injury practice specialising in representing claimants who have contracted work-related illnesses, has thrown its weight behind SA workers suffering from asbestos-linked diseases...Ntulinoble & Spoor has already registered a large number of claimants and issued 36 summonses...on behalf of workers who had previously worked at African Crysotile Asbestos and what the attorneys described as controlling companies, including Gencor, Msauli Asbestos (Msauli) and Hanova Mining. (Business Day [South Africa], 10 June 2002)

Coke, Colombia bottler fight lawsuit [USA] - Attorneys for Coca-Cola and its bottlers in Colombia argued Thursday that a federal judge in Miami should dismiss a $500 million lawsuit claiming the companies were indirectly responsible for anti-union violence in the war-torn nation. (Scott Leith, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 7 June 2002)

Asbestos firm [Cape] warns of claims risk - A UK-owned building firm, which has agreed to pay £20m to South African miners over asbestos-related claims, has warned it may suffer further payouts if bankers scupper the deal...Any reopening of the legal battle, which involved a landmark judgement by law lords, could escalate Cape's losses related to the claim, the firm warned. (BBC News, 5 June 2002)

Labor Board Issues Complaint Against Continental Carbon Company on Behalf of PACE Locals in Oklahoma and Texas [USA] - The National Labor Relations Board regional office in Fort Worth, Texas, issued a consolidated complaint against Continental Carbon Company for two different unfair labor practice charges [threatening employees with arrest while engaged in legally protected activities, and refusal to hand over safety & health information about leaks and possible well contamination] (PACE International Union, 4 June 2002)

ExxonMobil Fights Indonesia Rights Suit - ExxonMobil Corp is trying to persuade a [U.S.] federal court to dismiss a year-old lawsuit against it that alleges complicity in atrocities in Indonesia, court documents showed. (Agence France Presse, 30 May 2002)

Court upholds arbitration contract [USA] - The Texas Supreme Court today upheld a company's [Brown & Root Energy Services, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co.] right to impose a non-negotiated binding arbitration contract on a longtime employee [alleging race & age discrimination] who claimed it was unfair. Consumer and labor groups criticized the ruling as eroding Texas workers' rights to sue employers for wrongdoing. (Associated Press, 30 May 2002)

Journalists List Corporations Found Guilty of Crimes throughout the 1990s - A simple list of corporate crimes, presented along with guilty pleas or fine payments, hints at the pervasiveness of poor corporate ethics...journalists Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman have compiled a list of The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade...The authors point out that six corporations--Exxon (now ExxonMobil), Rockwell International, Royal Carribbean Cruises, Warner-Lambert (now part of Pfizer), Teledyne, and United Technologies--appear more than once on the list. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 29 May 2002)

Sara Lee agrees to pay dlrs 3.5 million in settlement with black workers [USA] - Sara Lee Foods Corp. has agreed to pay dlrs 3.5 million to 139 black employees who complained of racial harassment and retaliation at a hot-dog plant that closed last year. (Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press, 29 May 2002)

Judge Clears Way for Boeing Discrim Suit [USA] - A Seattle judge granted class status to a group of Asian-American employees of Boeing Co. , clearing the way for a lawsuit seeking tens of millions over alleged discrimination, the plaintiffs' lawyer said on Tuesday...The 55 initial plaintiffs are among some 1,500 Boeing engineers with ethnic ties to seven southern Asian countries who were unfairly denied pay raises and promotions, said their attorney, Harish Bharti. (Chris Stetkiewicz, Reuters, 28 May 2002)

A new model for social auditing [refers to recent California Supreme Court decision that Nike can be sued for false advertising over publicity campaign seeking to dispel reports that Nike goods were produced at Asian sweatshops]  -...In future, companies will need to move way from self-promotional corporate social responsibility reports - such as those recently published by Reebok, Nike, McDonald's and Shell - and move towards independent evaluations by qualified third parties. They will have to open up their factories to independent audits that disclose publicly whether conditions have improved. (Elliot J Schrage, formerly senior vice-president of global affairs at Gap, teaches at Columbia Business School and Columbia Law School, in Financial Times, 27 May 2002)

36 asbestos claims cite Gencor as a defendant [South Africa] - Summonses on behalf of 36 former asbestos workers were issued in the Johannesburg high court yesterday against four mining companies [African Crysotile Asbestos, Msauli Asbes, Gencor and Hanova Mining]...for damages amounting to R25 million for asbestos-related illnesses. (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 22 May 2002)

Employees of Charleston, W.Va., Hooters File Harassment Lawsuit [USA] - The owners and managers of the Hooters restaurant in Charleston routinely grope, proposition and abuse the women who work there, a Kanawha Circuit lawsuit filed Monday alleges...The suit also alleges that Cornett was a racist who fired women for giving birth to biracial babies (Lawrence Messina, Charleston Gazette [West Virginia, USA], 21 May 2002)

Ecuador Border Tainted by U.S.-Made Coca Killer - Collateral Damage from Colombia's Drug War -...In an attempt to kill coca leaf -- the raw material for cocaine -- Colombian planes are using a U.S.-manufactured herbicide near the border with Ecuador...But residents of San Francisco 2 want the spraying stopped. In February, they filed a class action lawsuit for unspecified damages in Washington against the Dyn Corp., a Virginia firm responsible for the spraying. (Reese Ehrlich, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 May 2002)

Union chief wins bank battle [Australia] - A national union chief has won a Federal Court case against one of the big four banks after she was threatened with the sack for speaking to the media about industrial issues. Finance Sector Union (FSU) national president Joyce Buckland today won a claim in the Federal Court in Sydney against the ANZ bank. (Herald Sun [Australia], 17 May 2002)

U.S. clothing giants suffer blow from Saipan case rulings - A group of United States retailers, including Gap, J. C. Penney and Target, suffered a setback this week when a federal judge ruled that thousands of garment workers on the Pacific island of Saipan could sue the companies and their contracted factories as a class. The group also failed to block a US$ 8.7 million settlement by 19 other retailers, including Tommy Hilfiger and Liz Claiborne, which sets a strict code of conduct and opens up factories on the island to independent monitoring. (Nancy Cleeland, The Age [Australia] / Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2002)

Asbestos victims win landmark case [UK] - Three people affected by asbestos cancer have won a groundbreaking case for compensation in the House of Lords...They were appealing against previous rulings by the Court of Appeal and the High Court denying them compensation on the basis that they were exposed to the deadly dust by more than one employer...Most victims of illnesses associated with the deadly dust come from areas linked to heavy industries such as shipbuilding and engineering. (BBC News, 16 May 2002)

Former Chinese war slaves appeal lower court ruling [Japan] - Fifteen Chinese men who were forced to work in coal mines here during World War II appealed a lower court ruling Thursday at the Fukuoka High Court that ordered Mitsui Mining Co. -- but not the government -- to pay them compensation (Japan Times, 10 May 2002)

Europe's sweetmakers dismiss US toxic chocolate claims - Europe's confectioners yesterday strongly rejected a U.S. lawsuit alleging top chocolate makers had failed to disclose that some products contained hazardous levels of toxic metals such as lead. (Trevor Datson, Reuters, 10 May 2002) 

Chocolate makers sued for lead content of products [USA] - An environmental group yesterday sued chocolate companies including Hershey and Mars for not disclosing the amount of toxic metals such as lead that are in their products, as required under California law...the American Environmental Safety Institute said research shows that dangerous levels of lead and cadmium in chocolate pose a serious health risk, especially to children...The environmental group cited Mars Inc., Hershey Foods Corp., Nestle USA Inc., Kraft Foods NorthAmerica Inc., Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. and See's Candies Inc. for violating California's Proposition 65 (Reuters, 9 May 2002)

TotalFinaElf faces lawsuit by Myanmar refugees over govt human rights abuses - Four refugees from Myanmar are seeking to take legal action in Belgium against TotalFinaElf for alleged complicity with Myanmar's military regime, human rights advocates said (AFX News, 8 May 2002)

EEOC and BNSF settle genetic testing case under Americans with Disabilities Act [USA] - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) today announced a mediated settlement for $2.2 million of EEOC's lawsuit which alleged that BNSF violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) by genetically testing or seeking to test 36 of its employees without their knowledge or consent. The genetic test was part of a comprehensive diagnostic medical examination that BNSF required of certain employees who had filed claims or internal reports of work-related carpal tunnel syndrome injuries against the company. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 8 May 2002)

Man wins first sexual harassment suit [South Korea] - A Seoul court yesterday ordered two female workers of an apparel company to pay 3 million won ($2,336) in compensation to a 28-year-old male colleague for sexually harassing him. (Korea Herald, 6 May 2002)

TOBACCO: Hong Kong Launches Anti-Smoking Campaign -...Efforts to curb smoking are also taking place in mainland China despite the failure of efforts by attorney Tong Lihua to sue the government's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and 24 firms under its jurisdiction for failing to carry health warnings on their Web sites...he is not currently considering filing suits against U.S. firms because a lack of punitive damage provisions in Chinese law would make such cases of little value. (UN Wire, 5 May 2002)

16 Muslims Sue Whirlpool Plant [USA] - Sixteen Muslims have filed a religious discrimination lawsuit claiming managers at a Whirlpool plant yanked scarves off women's heads and followed workers into restrooms to make sure they weren't praying. (AP, 4 May 2002) 

Warming makes oil the 'new tobacco' - Oil companies could find themselves facing multi-billion pound legal suits - similar to those facing tobacco firms - if they ignore the potential consequences of global warming, a report claimed yesterday. ExxonMobil, the biggest oil group in the world, compares badly with its peers Shell and BP for its hardline stance on global warming, argues the study by Claros Consulting. (Terry Macalister, Guardian [UK], 3 May 2002)

Court says first amendment doesn't shield Nike from suit [USA]: California's highest court ruled yesterday that the First Amendment did not shield Nike from a lawsuit accusing it of fraud for asserting that its overseas workers received adequate wages and that its working conditions complied with safety regulations. (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 3 May 2002)

State [California] releases names of slaves who were insured - The names of hundreds of slaves whose lives were insured before 1865 were released by the state Wednesday, plunging California into the middle of a growing national movement to sue companies for slavery reparations. The information, mandated by a state law passed in 2000, came largely from three insurance companies that do business in California: New York Life, AIG and Aetna (Sarah Lubman, San Jose Mercury News, 2 May 2002)

Calif. court says Nike can be sued for false ads [USA] - Sportswear giant Nike Inc. can be sued for false advertising over a publicity campaign that sought to dispel reports that Asian sweatshops are used to produce its famous footwear, California's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. (Andrew Quinn, Reuters, 2 May 2002)

New bill on arbitration limits [USA]: Measure would return states' power to regulate workplace disputes - Two leading U.S. senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would allow states to block employers from forcing employees into binding arbitration, a private system of resolving disputes without laws or juries or constitutional rights. (Reynolds Holding, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 May 2002)

Worker can sue over cancer [Australia]: A former Alcoa worker yesterday won the right to seek compensation after contracting bladder cancer. (Jeremy Kelly, Herald Sun [Australia], 1 May 2002)

Shredded: Justice for BAT - The latest major blow against the tobacco industry has been struck in Australia. There, a judge has concluded that British American Tobacco (BAT) has engaged in a massive document-destruction scheme intentionally designed to thwart smokers or former smokers from successfully bringing suit against the company. (Robert Weissman, Multinational Monitor, May 2002)

Talisman Advised - Further Abuses Could Result In Prosecution In International Criminal Court - Rights & Democracy advised oil corporation Talisman today that future complicity in Sudanese human rights abuses could be liable for prosecution by the impending International Criminal Court. (Rights & Democracy, 30 Apr. 2002)

Court Rules on Disabled Workers [USA] - In a setback for disabled workers, the Supreme Court ruled Monday those employees are not always entitled to premium assignments intended for more senior workers. (Gina Holland, Associated Press, 29 Apr. 2002)

Forced laborers win suit: Mitsui Mining ordered to pay 165 million yen [Japan] - The Fukuoka District Court on Friday ordered Mitsui Mining Co. to pay 165 million yen in damages to 15 Chinese men who were forcibly brought to Japan as slave laborers during World War II. (Japan Times, 27 Apr. 2002)

Law Firm Accused of Discriminating Against Women Settles Suit [USA]: The law firm headed by David Boies agreed yesterday to settle a lawsuit brought by two former employees who claimed that the firm had illegally discriminated against them and other female lawyers by paying them less than the men and restricting their career opportunities (Robert F. Worth, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2002)

Virgin Airlines Settles Case, Allowing Time Off for Religion [USA] - Virgin Atlantic Airlines has agreed to a settlement of a religious freedom case that will require the carrier to allow an employee time off from work for religious observances (Robin Pogrebin, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2002) 

Apparel Maker in Samoa Is Told to Pay Workers $3.5 Million - A court in American Samoa has ordered an apparel company there to pay $3.5 million to hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese workers who were sometimes paid just $2.25 an hour and were illegally charged thousands of dollars to obtain their jobs. (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2002)

Enforcing compliance with human rights codes [refers to lawsuits against companies for alleged human rights abuses; the issue of holding parent companies responsible for the conduct of subsidiaries; the growing pressure for unambiguous and binding international legal obligations on companies concerning human rights] (Roger Cowe, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 19 Apr. 2002)

Tobacco Giant's New Smoking Gun [Australia]: A worker who complained about smoking in her workplace has been sacked from a call centre [contracted to call centre operator, Addecco] operated for cigarette giant British American Tobacco. (Workers Online, 19 Apr. 2002)

California jury finds companies liable for MTBE pollution: A San Francisco jury has found three energy companies [Shell Oil Co., Lyondell Chemical Co., Tosco Corp.] liable for polluting Lake Tahoe's drinking water with MTBE...The San Francisco Superior Court jury also found that Shell Oil Co. and Lyondell Chemical Co. hid information about the potential dangers (Reuters, 19 Apr. 2002)

Federal Lawsuit [USA] Seeks Slave Reparations from Three Companies [Aetna Inc., CSX Corp., FleetBoston Financial Corp.] (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 18 Apr. 2002)

Three oil firms lose MTBE suit [USA]: A jury holds them responsible for Lake Tahoe well pollution -...Jurors also found that Shell and Lyondell Chemical Co. of Houston, the largest domestic manufacturer of MTBE, acted with "malice" in failing to warn consumers that the chemical posed an extraordinary environmental hazard. (Chris Bowman, Sacramento Bee, 17 Apr. 2002)

Japanese women push at the door: Companies are being forced to confront sexual discrimination after a landmark ruling against Nomura...Nomura was ordered in February to pay Y56m ($425,000) in damages to 12 women who were denied promotion because of sexual discrimination (Bayan Rahman, Financial Times, 17 Apr. 2002)

Union Activist: Co.'s Hire Attackers [Colombia]: Hiring paramilitary groups to attack and threaten union leaders is a common practice by foreign companies operating in Colombia, a union activist from the country said Tuesday [refers to lawsuits against Drummond Co. and Coca-Cola] (Associated Press, 16 Apr. 2002)

Employers must assess workplace risks to pregnant women, EAT rules [UK] - The failure of a nursing home to carry out an assessment of the risk posed by working conditions for new or expectant mothers was sex discrimination, according to a recent decision made by the Employment Appeal Tribunal. (Equal Opportunities Commission [UK], 15 Apr. 2002)

BAT must pay damages to Australian smoker: A dying 51-year-old mother of four has become the first cancer victim outside the US successfully to sue an international tobacco group, after an Australian judge threw out British American Tobacco's defence because it destroyed documents. (Virginia Marsh & Nikki Tait, Financial Times, 11 Apr. 2002) 

Dow Shall Be Liable [India] - More than 500 survivors of the Union Carbide 1984 gas leak from Bhopal protested outside the Dow headquarters in Mumbai, accusing the Michigan-based company of double standards and racism (Darryl D'Monte and Nityanand Jayaraman, CorpWatch India, 8 Apr. 2002)

Six Women Win $30.6M in Store Suit [USA]: A jury has awarded $30.6 million to six women who alleged they were subject to violent behavior and sexual harassment by a store director at Ralphs Grocery Co. (Simon Avery, AP, 6 Apr. 2002)

Parents of autistic kids sue drug firms, dental groups [USA]: The parents of a group of children with autism this week sued several drug companies and dental associations in the United States for allegedly exposing their kids to the neurological disorder in vaccines and dental fillings containing mercury. The American Dental Association, Georgia Dental Association and drug firms American Home Products Corp., now known as Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Johnson & Johnson and Armour Pharmaceutical were accused of, among other things, negligence in 11 lawsuits filed in an Atlanta court. (Paul Simao, Reuters, 5 Apr. 2002)

Chicagoans to Charge Discrimination Against MCI, WorldCom [USA]: Past and present employees of MCI and WorldCom in Chicago have banded together with some 150 others across the nation to levy a class action lawsuit for having allegedly faced sex, race, disability, age and religious discrimination on a daily basis. (Adam Fendelman, ePrairie.com, 2 Apr. 2002)

Inco ordered to clean up polluted properties [Canada]: Inco Ltd. was ordered last week to clean up 25 homes polluted by its nickel refinery in Port Colborne, Ontario, in an ongoing dispute that has pitted the mining giant against angry residents of the small town on the shores of Lake Erie. (Jeffrey Hodgson, Reuters, 2 Apr. 2002)

Shell on Trial in the Niger Delta: This week multinational Shell Petroleum Development Corporation settled one of two major cases brought against them by local peoples suffering the consequences of their operations in the Niger Delta. [settlement of lawsuit for alleged damage to Ogbodo community caused by oil pipeline explosion; also refers to ongoing lawsuit on behalf of the relatives of Ogoni environmental activist Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others who were publicly executed in Nigeria after speaking out against environmental degradation caused by Shell operations in 1995] (Cultural Survival, 1 Apr. 2002)

Supreme Court Throws Out Age Appeal [USA]: The Supreme Court reversed course Monday and said it would not decide whether older employees have similar rights as minorities in discrimination claims. By backing out of the hot case, the court delayed a decision that would affect millions of aging workers — possibly negatively. (Gina Holland, Associated Press, 1 Apr. 2002)

Company faces death charges [New Zealand]: A Hamilton company [Gremara Holdings] will face charges over the death of a roading contractor crushed by a seven-tonne road roller last year. (New Zealand Herald, 1 Apr. 2002)

Breaking the Brokers’ Sexual Harassment Culture [USA]: An Interview with Pam Martens [allegations of sexual harassment against securities company Smith Barney, now owned by Citigroup] - We felt the mandatory arbitration system encouraged sexual harassment and related activities. If you know these things will inevitably end up in a rigged, private arbitration system, then there is no real deterrent against that kind of conduct. (Multinational Monitor, Apr. 2002)

High Court Ruling Hurts Union Goals of Immigrants [USA] - Labor: An employer can fire an illegal worker trying to organize, the justices decide. Exploitation is feared. - Illegal immigrants who are wrongly fired for union organizing are not entitled to back pay, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, a decision that advocates say leaves millions of low-wage workers vulnerable to being exploited by employers. (David G. Savage & Nancy Cleeland, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2002)

Shangri-La Case Goes to Supreme Court [Indonesia]: The Shangri-La Hotel labor dispute looks set to enter world labor case history with the hotel’s management appealing the case – based on the definition of what constitutes a legal strike – to the Supreme Court. (Laksamana.Net [Indonesia], 28 Mar. 2002) 

{···español} Mapuches demandan a Repsol [la empresa Repsol-YPF] por 445 millones [Argentina]: Presentan hoy ante el juzgado federal un reclamo civil por esa suma (en dólares) a raíz los daños producidos por la explotación de hidrocarburos. (Diario Río Negro [Argentina], 27 marzo 2002)

EEOC [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] settles racial harassment suit for $1.8 million against Apollo Colors of Illinois [manufacturer of pigments used in printing ink]: African-American Workers Subjected to Hangman's Nooses, Racist Slurs and Graffiti (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 27 Mar. 2002)

UNITED STATES: Slavery Lawsuit Aims for Social Change - A class-action lawsuit filed by some 35 million descendants of black slaves against three companies with ties to the slave trade is aimed as much at shaking up U.S. society as at winning financial returns, say lawyers and observers. (Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, 27 Mar. 2002)

Drummond says assassination suit effort to destroy Colombian jobs: Drummond Co., accused in a [U.S.] federal lawsuit of encouraging the assassination of three union leaders in Colombia, said the accusations are part of an effort to destroy jobs in that country...Drummond, in its statement, says it vehemently denies the allegations (Val Walton, Birmingham News [USA], 27 Mar. 2002)

Lawsuit Chases Companies Tied to Slavery [USA]: A prayer on a Brooklyn street preceded the filing of an unprecedented $1.4 trillion lawsuit against eight major corporations alleged to have profited from their historical ties to the slave trade more than 137 years ago. Claiming to represent all of the United States' 35 million African-Americans, New York slave reparations activist Deadria Farmer-Paellmann named Aetna Inc., CSX Corp. and FleetBoston Financial Corp., among others, as unjustly profiting from the slave trade before the Civil War ended in 1865. (Kelley Vlahos Beaucar, Fox News, 27 Mar. 2002)

US firms face slave reparations suit: Three major US corporations accused of profiting from the slave trade before it was abolished almost 150 years ago are being taken to court by African-Americans seeking compensation for the abuses suffered by their ancestors. The lawsuit is the first of what is expected to be a deluge of claims against insurer Aetna, railroad firm CSX and financial services firm Fleet Boston. (BBC News, 26 Mar. 2002)

US reaches cleanup deal at Alabama PCBs site:...Under the settlement, Solutia and Pharmacia have agreed to continue the emergency cleanups of area residences that are the worst contaminated. (Reuters, 26 Mar. 2002) 

Talisman questions memo on Sudan ethnic cleansing: Talisman Energy Inc. said on Monday it does not know the origin of a memo that human rights groups say shows the Canadian oil producer asked Sudan's army in 1999 to remove villages near its oil facilities in the war-torn African country...Human rights groups have filed the document as evidence in U.S. federal court in a lawsuit alleging Talisman has conspired with the Sudanese government in ethnic cleansing that killed or removed non-Muslim civilians living in proximity to Sudan's oil production regions. (Reuters, 25 Mar. 2002)

Ship officers indicted in Alaska dumping case [USA]: A captain and two chief engineers of cargo vessels that shipped frozen seafood from Alaska have been indicted for alledgely scheming to dump oil and sludge from their ships, Department of Justice officials said last week. (Reuters, 25 Mar. 2002)

Toxic Trade? A Canadian chemical firm says California's pollution controls violate NAFTA rules...In Santa Monica...the groundwater is poisoned... a pollutant has leaked from the underground tanks of gasoline stations. The culprit: methyl tertiary butyl ether...As lawsuits against 18 oil companies drag on, California has ordered a phaseout of the chemical, and a dozen other states have followed suit...METHANEX, the Canadian company that makes a key ingredient of MTBE, is challenging California's ban under the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement. (Margot Roosevelt, Time Magazine, 25 Mar. 2002)

High court ruling nicks the protective coating of arbitration policies [USA]:...Arbitration clauses have become common in most business agreements, including employment contracts...In a recent case, EEOC v. Waffle House Inc., the US Supreme Court has declared that the EEOC [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] may go to court to seek all available remedies for alleged job discrimination regardless of the employer-employee agreement to resolve their disputes through binding arbitration. (Andrew Grainger & Thomas Royall Smith, Boston Globe, 24 Mar. 2002)

Alabama coal giant is sued over 3 killings in Colombia:...Now the state's largest mining business, the Drummond Company, has been accused of encouraging the assassination of three union leaders at its giant coal mine in Colombia. (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2002)

United States announces intent to lodge settlement for comprehensive study of PCB contamination in Anniston, Alabama: Agreement ensures continued, immediate cleanup of worst-contaminated residential areas - The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency today announced its intent to lodge on Monday, March 25, 2002, a comprehensive environmental settlement with Solutia Inc., and Pharmacia Corporation, to investigate and address the serious polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) contamination in Anniston, Ala. (U.S. Justice Department, 22 Mar. 2002)

EPA to ease coal plant rules, pollution suits - Post [USA]: The Bush administration has decided to shift from a Clinton-era clear air enforcement initiative that led to dozens of lawsuits against aging coal-fired power plants, The Washington Post reported yesterday. According to U.S. Environment Protection Agency officials, the administration plans to unveil new rules that would offer incentives for reductions in toxic emissions without threatening legal action against plant operators, the newspaper said. (Reuters, 19 Mar. 2002)

Government and Ferro Corporation settle Clean Air Act claims [USA]: Company violated new source review at its former flame retardant manufacturing operations - The Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the state of Indiana, and the city of Hammond, Ind. today jointly entered into a $3 million settlement of claims against Ferro Corporation for the company's violations of the federal and state "new source review" provisions of the Clean Air Act (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 18 Mar. 2002)

Fifteen Sentenced for Killing 81 Miners in Guangxi [China]: On 12 March, 2002, 15 people were sentenced by the High People's Court of the Guangxi Zhuang Minority Autonomous Region to imprisonment and fines for causing a serious accident which killed 81 miners. (source - China News Service, in China Labour Bulletin, 18 Mar. 2002)

TOBACCO: WHO Calls For Globalized Litigation As Treaty Talks Resume - The World Health Organization today called for a global approach to legal action against the tobacco industry as the agency opened its fourth round of talks on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Geneva. The U.N. agency released a report citing litigation already being taken, particularly in the United States, for harm caused by smoking...The WHO said that pioneering cases in Australia, Norway, Bangladesh, India, Saudi Arabia and India "showed the potential for litigation to advance tobacco control" (UN Wire, 18 Mar. 2002)

Colombia: Union sues U.S. coal company: On March 14, the Union of Workers of the Mining and Energy Industry of Colombia (Sintramienergetica) filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Birmingham, Alabama, against the Alabama-based Drummond mining company and its owner, Garry Drummond...Sintramienergetica charges the mining company with having hired rightwing paramilitaries to abduct, torture and kill three of the union’s leaders in 2001 as part of a plan to stop other Drummond employees from joining the union. (Americas.org, 17 Mar. 2002)

{···español} Instancia decisiva en litigio con la Texaco [Ecuador]: La justicia de Estados Unidos deberá fallar esta semana sobre la procedencia de una demanda iniciada en 1993 por indígenas de Ecuador contra la compañía petrolera ChevronTexaco, a la que acusan de contaminar la selva amazónica. (Danielle Knight, Inter Press Service, in La Hora [Ecuador], 17 marzo 2002)  

Settlement talks in Alabama pollution case fail - WSJ [USA]: The Alabama Supreme Court ordered a halt to settlement talks in a lawsuit against Solutia Inc. , Monsanto Co. and Pharmacia Corp. after a judge threatened to jail company executives, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. (Reuters, 15 Mar. 2002)

Ecuador Amazon Indians appeal Texaco-case ruling: Rainforest Indians of Ecuador and Peru urged a U.S. appeals court to reinstate nine-year-old litigation against Texaco, alleging that toxic dumping devastated their environment and exposed residents to cancer-causing pollutants (Gail Appleson, Reuters, 13 Mar. 2002)

Summary of the Saipan Sweatshop Litigation [update regarding 3 lawsuits filed on behalf of thousands of workers who are currently working and formerly worked on the island of Saipan - 19 companies have settled; the following companies have not settled: GAP, Abercrombie and Fitch, Dayton Hudson, Levis, the Limited, and JC Penney] (Michael Rubin, Global Exchange website, 11 Mar. 2002)

Rainforest Indians [from Ecuador] in New York for major showdown with Chevron-Texaco: Billions at stake as tribal leaders press groundbreaking lawsuit before Appeals Court - Assert Texaco ruined their rivers and land, destroying their centuries-old way of life...and dramatically increased the risk of cancer for tens of thousands of people. (Frente para la Defensa de la Amazonia, 11 Mar. 2002)

Coca-Cola 'conned employees out of $200 million' [USA]: Nine former and current Coca-Cola employees are suing the company, alleging it cheated workers out of millions of dollars' wages over the past four years. The three class-action lawsuits also claim that Atlanta-based Coke and its California subsidiaries retaliated against those who tried to stop the practice. (Ananova, 10 Mar. 2002)

Koo's Group faces protest [Taiwan/USA]: Activists are upset that the company is doing little to solve a lingering dispute between workers and plant management at one of its factories in the US - US and Taiwanese labor and environmental activists yesterday protested in Taipei City against the Koo's Group, urging the corporation to solve disputes [including labour safety and environmental issues] in the US surrounding one of its subsidiaries, Continental Carbon Company. (Chiu Yu-Tzu, Taipei Times, 9 Mar. 2002)

Federal Court Rejects Claims Against Forever 21 [USA]: Dismissing the notion that a retailer is the ultimate employer in the apparel supply chain, a Los Angeles federal court has rejected a case by 19 plaintiffs who sued Forever 21 for wage and labor violations. (Nola Sarkisian-Miller, ApparelNews.net, 8-14 Mar. 2002)

EEOC [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] announces $47 million agreement in principle to settle claims of class-wide sex bias against Rent-a-Center [USA] (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 8 Mar. 2002)

Shell to Stand Trial for 1990s Human Rights Abuses in Nigeria: A U.S. Federal Court rejected Shell's plea to dismiss a case charging the company with human rights abuses in Nigeria dating back to 1995. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 8 Mar. 2002)

Judge approves $9 million settlement in bioengineered-corn suit [USA]: A federal judge approved a $9 million settlement Thursday in a class-action lawsuit by consumers who complained of allergic reactions to genetically modified corn in supermarket products...The StarLink corn seed...had been approved by the [U.S.] Environmental Protection Agency for use in animal feed but not for human consumption...Aventis and Garst were defendants in the lawsuit along with Kraft Foods Co. of Glenview, Ill.; Azteca Foods Inc. of Chicago; Azteca Milling, Co. of Edinburg, Texas; and a sister company, Mission Foods Co. (Mike Robinson, Associated Press, on Environmental News Network website, 8 Mar. 2002)

{···español} TC define caso Texaco [Ecuador]: La suerte del juicio que los colonos e indígenas amazónicos plantearon en contra de la petrolera Texaco desde 1993 por perjuicios al medio ambiente en una corte de la ciudad de Nueva York, se definirá en los próximos días en el Tribunal Constitucional. (La Hora [Ecuador], 7 marzo 2002)

Worker who lost hands keeps compensation [Singapore]: A factory worker, who cannot even bathe herself after an accident at work, repelled a bid by her former employer to reduce the $750,000 compensation given to her by the High Court...Hong Kong Industrial Company had wanted the Appeals Court to reduce the awards of $260,000 for the cost of her mechanical hands and $153,000 for her future cost of nursing. (Straits Times, 7 Mar. 2002)

Court approves $1.2 million settlement  between EEOC [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] and McKesson [McKesson Water Products Company, and Groupe Danone which acquired McKesson in 2000] for race discrimination [USA]:...They claimed that McKesson assigned African-American drivers to routes in low-income neighborhoods, which were often less profitable than routes in affluent communities. Because pay and promotion were tied to the profitability of the routes, the African-American drivers received lower compensation and fewer promotions than those assigned to the affluent areas. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 6 Mar. 2002)

Lawsuits may be next weapon in climate change fight: Lawsuits may become the next weapon against climate change as impotent, tiny islands, sinking beneath the waves, seek revenge on the rich polluting nations and multinational concerns they accuse of wiping them out...Australia and the United States could possibly be challenged in the International Court of Justice for not ratifying Kyoto...An alternative avenue might be the U.S. alien tort claims act, which could allow Pacific islands to sue car makers, power station operators or oil firms for pollution. (Michael Christie, Reuters, 6 Mar. 2002)

The Verdict Is In: Smithfield's Use of Intimidation, Violence and False Arrests Violates Civil Rights Laws [USA] - Workers Win $755,000 In Jury Verdict Against Smithfield:...The jury verdict directed Smithfield [Smithfield Packing Co.] and the company's former security chief, Danny Priest, to pay $755,000 in compensation and punitive damages as the result of the beating and arrests of two union supporters at the company's Tar Heel, North Carolina facility in 1997. (UFCW - United Food and Commercial Workers Union, 5 Mar. 2002)

Lawsuit Against Shell for Human Rights Violations in Nigeria to Proceed: A U.S. Federal Court has ruled that a civil lawsuit [Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.] charging multinational oil giant Shell with complicity in human rights violations will go forward. (EarthRights International, 5 Mar. 2002)

Auburn woman sues egg farm [Maine, USA]: The safety of workers at the former DeCoster Egg Farms is once again being questioned. An Auburn woman who was hired to serve as a liaison to the Spanish-speaking employees claims that she was fired after reporting unsafe working conditions, including her concerns that employees were being denied proper medical attention for workplace injuries. (Lisa Chmelecki, Sun Journal [Lewiston, Maine], 2 Mar. 2002)

Gap resists settlement of Saipan sweatshop suit (Jenny Strasburg, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Mar. 2002)

Activists win lawsuit against meat company [USA]: Two claimed excessive force by Smithfield - Two union activists won a lawsuit Friday that claimed they were beaten and falsely arrested during organizing efforts at a Smithfield Packing Co. plant, union officials said. (Emery P. Dalesio, Associated Press, in News & Observer [North Carolina, USA], 2 Mar. 2002)

Carbon plant union files lawsuit [USA]: The union that represents workers at the Continental Carbon plant filed a notice of intent to sue this week against the company, alleging violations of environmental regulations that jeopardize worker safety...The union alleges that Continental Carbon [which converts carbon black oil, a byproduct of oil refining, into carbon black, which is used in tires and plastic products] handles and disposes of hazardous waste without proper permits or procedures to protect workers or the local environment. (Greg Cunningham, Amarillo Globe-News [USA], 1 Mar. 2002)

Ecuador hopes for settlement in ChevronTexaco case: Ecuador's attorney general said this week he is fighting to help indigenous groups settle a nine-year-old lawsuit charging that water contamination by oil giant Texaco Inc. caused more than $120 million in damages and injuries. (Manuela Badawy, Reuters, 28 Feb. 2002)

Workers Sue Employers for Uncompensated Layoff [China]: The People's Daily (27 February, 2002) reported that 37 workers at a mining firm in Anhui Province filed litigation against their company for its decision to lay them off without compensation. (China Labour Bulletin [Source: People's Daily], 27 Feb. 2002)

EEOC and Verizon settle pregnancy bias suit; thousands of women to receive benefits [USA] -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the settlement of a major class action lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination against Verizon predecessor companies NYNEX and Bell Atlantic. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 26 Feb. 2002)

Judge urges settlement in Alabama PCB cases [USA]: Fresh off a jury's verdict that a chemical company poisoned an Alabama town with PCBs for decades, a judge pushed hard for an agreement Monday to resolve thousands of remaining claims. Circuit Judge Joel Laird ordered nine top executives of Monsanto Co., its spinoff Solutia Inc., and Pharmacia Corp. to attend a meeting with lawyers Saturday to discuss settling the cases and avoid more lengthy trials. (Jay Reeves, Associated Press, 26 Feb. 2002)

human rights attorneys... announced the filing of an amended complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Talisman Energy Inc., adding the Islamic Government of Sudan as a co-defendant. The complaint alleges that Talisman and the government are violating the human rights of Christian and other non-Muslim minorities in Southern Sudan by conducting a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing to clear the land for oil exploitation. (Carey R. D'Avino and Stephen A. Whinston of Berger & Montague, PC, 25 Feb. 2002)

Petrobras to appeal $180 mln oil spill ruling: Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras said last week it would appeal a $180 million court award to fishermen following a major oil spill in Rio de Janeiro's scenic bay in January 2000. (Reuters, 25 Feb. 2002)

Jury decides against Monsanto, Solutia in PCB case [USA]: An Alabama jury last week ruled against Monsanto Co. and Solutia Inc. in a case seeking to repay property damages resulting from production of dangerous chemicals several decades ago (Philip Klein, Reuters, 25 Feb. 2002)

Jury finds Monsanto liable for releasing tons of PCB [USA] - Firm covered up pollution for more than 40 years: An Alabama jury has found that Monsanto Co. engaged in "outrageous" behavior by releasing tons of polychlorinated biphenyl into the city of Anniston and covering up its actions for decades, handing 3,500 local residents a huge victory in a landmark environmental lawsuit. (Michael Grunwald, Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2002)

EEOC [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] settles race and sex bias suit for $1 million against Optical Cable Corp. - EEOC's suit alleged that Optical Cable violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to hire African-American applicants for a 10-year period, by assigning women to lower paying positions than their similarly situated male counterparts, and by wrongfully discharging a former African-American employee based on his race. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 21 Feb. 2002)

USA: Activists Challenge Corporations They Say Are Tied to Slavery -...A powerhouse team of African-American legal and academic stars is getting ready to sue companies it says profited from slavery before 1865...So far, the reparations legal team has publicly identified five companies it says have slave ties: insurers Aetna, New York Life and AIG and financial giants J.P. Morgan Chase Manhattan Bank and Fleet Boston Financial Group (James Cox, USA Today, 21 Feb. 2002)

Pitting Labor Against INS Laws: Supreme Court case on immigrants' effort to unionize -...After years of hearings and legal argument, the federal government ruled that the firing of Castro - whose real name is Samuel Perez - was an illegal union-busting tactic by his employer and that he should be reinstated with back pay despite his illegal status in this country. (Thomas Maier, Newsday [New York], 19 Feb. 2002)

Moving beyond the voluntary code: HUMAN RIGHTS: Self-regulation for international business is the norm when it comes to rights. But a new study says this is slowly giving way to legal obligations [article about new report: Beyond Voluntarism: Human rights and the developing international legal obligations of companies, prepared by International Council on Human Rights Policy] (Alison Maitland, Financial Times, 18 Feb. 2002)

Wage cuts for bank employees 55 and over is unlawful [Japan]: The Sendai High Court on February 12 ordered Michinoku Bank in Aomori City in northern Japan to pay 71 million yen to its six former employees, saying that the bank's rule to cut wages for employees aged 55 and over is unlawful. (Japan Press Service, 13-19 Feb. 2002)

Target Claims Lawsuit Without Merit [USA]: Target Corp. said on Monday that allegations the retailer discriminated against black applicants seeking management jobs in Wisconsin were ``totally without merit.'' (AP, 11 Feb. 2002)

BHP washes its hands of Dead River [Papua New Guinea]: BHP Billiton today washed its hands of responsibility for the damage its Ok Tedi mine is creating (Mineral Policy Institute, 8 Feb. 2002)

Chinese turn to law to right pollution wrongs:...Nearly 100 peasant families had their livelihoods stripped from them after toxic chemicals dumped in the Shiliang river in 1999 and 2000 by a private paper factory reached the reservoir...They won - albeit on paper so far - compensation of 5.6 million yuan thanks to a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, which gathered evidence and represented them in court. (Tamora Vidaillet, Reuters, 5 Feb. 2002) 

SA's [South Africa's] first child labour case in Ceres today: Eleven-year-old girl loses her leg after falling off trailer transporting workers [fruit pickers at farm] - SA's first child labour court case will be heard in the Ceres Magistrate's court in Western Cape today after an 11-year-old girl lost her leg in a work-related accident  (Business Day [South Africa], 5 Feb. 2002)

Christian Aid calls for global regulation of tobacco industry: Brazilian tobacco farmer sues BAT subsidiary. New report from Christian Aid raises concerns over the safety of growing tobacco. A tobacco farmer who claims he has been made permanently ill as a result of growing tobacco is taking Souza Cruz, the Brazilian subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), to court. (Christian Aid, 4 Feb. 2002)

Ecuador, Defending the Amazon (Peter Lippman, The Advocacy Project, Feb. 2002)

chapters include:

Roma groups take IBM to court: A Geneva-based Gypsy organisation has officially launched legal action against the American multinational, IBM, for its alleged role in the Holocaust (Roy Probert, swissinfo/Radio Swiss International, 31 Jan. 2002)

The Coca-Cola Killings: Is Plan Colombia funding a bloodbath of union activists? (David Bacon, American Prospect, 28 Jan. 2002)

PCB Pollution Suits Have Day in Court in Alabama [USA: lawsuits against Monstanto and Solutia filed by a total of 25,000 plaintiffs] - In the first two weeks of testimony, the plaintiffs' lawyers have established through Monsanto memorandums that the company was aware of the level of its discharges and that it at least partly understood the risks as early as the mid-1960's, if not earlier. But it did not begin improving pollution controls until 1970 (Kevin Sack, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2002)

Dial Facing Sexual Harassment Suit [USA]: Women Ready to Testify in Key EEOC Action Against Company...Martinez is one of more than 100 women prepared to testify of a years-long pattern of sexual harassment in a sweeping lawsuit the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed in 1999 against Dial Corp. (Kirstin Downey Grimsley, Washington Post, 25 Jan. 2002)

More nooses found at Georgia Power plant [USA] - Georgia Power Co. said Wednesday that workers at one of its power plants have found five hangman's nooses, five months after a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company was denied class-action status. The lawsuit alleged Georgia Power maintained discriminatory employment, personnel and human resources policies and failed to remove pictures of nooses in the company's operating headquarters of Cornelia. (AP, 24 Jan. 2002)

Activists to oppose govt Aids ruling appeal [South Africa]: Aids activists are planning a series of new lawsuits aimed at widening access to treatment for HIV and Aids patients...The TAC also plans to support a bid by Indian drug company Cipla to secure a licence enabling it to sell in South Africa copies of patented drugs made by international pharmaceutical companies Boehringer Ingelheim and GlaxoSmithKlein. (SAPA/AP, in Dispatch [South Africa], 21 Jan. 2002)

Waste Company Fined £17,000 for Offences at Arpley [UK]: Warrington Magistrates’ Court today fined 3C Waste Limited £17,000 after the company admitted three offences at its Arpley landfill site in Warrington. (Environment Agency [UK Government], 21 Jan. 2002)

Cambridgeshire welding company prosecuted [UK]: The company pleaded guilty to treating, keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health. (Environment Agency [UK Government], 21 Jan. 2002)

Companies [home building company and drainage cleaning company] fined for polluting Leeds beck [UK] (Environment Agency [UK Government], 18 Jan. 2002)

'Appalled' Magistrates fine company [a waste management company] £20,000 and praise Environment Agency [UK] (Environment Agency [UK Government], 18 Jan. 2002)

Boeing sued by female workers claiming gender discrimination [USA]: The Boeing Co. was sued in three states Wednesday by female employees who claim the company denied them pay, promotions and other workplace benefits based on their gender. (Bloomberg News, 17 Jan. 2002)

US utility pollution lawsuits detailed: The U.S. Justice Department said this week it would continue to prosecute seven lawsuits filed by the Clinton administration against coal-fired utilities which allegedly expanded old plants without installing new air pollution controls [companies sued were FirstEnergy Corp, Duke Energy Corp, Vectren Corp's Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Co, Dynegy Inc's Illinois Power, Cinergy Corp, American Electric Power Co and Southern Co] (Reuters, 17 Jan. 2002)

Suffolk Business [Suffolk Proteins Limited] prosecuted for watercourse pollution [UK] (Environment Agency [UK Government], 16 Jan. 2002)

High Court Weighs Worker Rights [USA]: Supreme Court justices tangled Tuesday over whether illegal immigrants have the same rights as Americans if they are mistreated at work. U.S. citizens are entitled to back pay if wrongly fired, and the Bush administration argued that people in the country illegally deserve the same. ``The labor laws benefit everybody,'' government attorney Paul R.Q. Wolfson told the court during oral arguments in the case of a Mexican national who lied to get a job at a California plant and then was fired after trying to start a union. (Gina Holland, Associated Press, 15 Jan. 2002)

Asbestosis victims take Gefco to court in quest for justice [South Africa] (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 15 Jan. 2002)

Air's bad, neighbors say; company denies polluting:..Residents [in 3 communities of southwest Detroit, USA]  have filed a joint lawsuit against the company [National Steel Corp.], alleging it is polluting their neighborhoods. (Dan Shine & Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, 11 Jan. 2002)

NY sues 2 power firms over air pollution rules: New York state officials said on Thursday they have filed a federal lawsuit against Niagara Mohawk Holdings, Inc. and NRG Energy, Inc. alleging violations of the Clean Air Act at two coal-burning power plants in western New York (Reuters, 11 Jan. 2002)

Californian court to hear chromium lawsuits [claims of chromium poisoning] against PG&E (Reuters, 10 Jan. 2002)

Attorneys Allege Bush Fails as an Environmental Defender [USA]: In the first year of George W. Bush's presidency, environmental protections have taken a back seat to industry concerns, according to attorneys who represent environmental groups in court. (Environment News Service, 8 Jan. 2002)

South African Asbestos Victims Settle With Cape: British-based multinational to pay €33.8m/$30.2m (ICEM - International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, 8 Jan. 2002)

The Big Ugly at Ok Tedi:  In an extraordinary move, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government has passed legislation that prevents any government agency from taking or supporting “in any way” proceedings against the mining multinational BHP-Billiton “in respect of an environmental claim” over damage caused by the Ok Tedi mine. (Bob Burton, editor of Mining Monitor, in Multinational Monitor, Jan./Feb. 2002)

Beyond Voluntarism: Human rights and the developing international legal obligations of companies [full report, and summary] (International Council on Human Rights Policy, Jan. 2002)

Corporate Complicity From Nuremberg to Rangoon: An Examination of Forced Labor Cases and Their Impact on the Liability of Multinational Corporations - Abstract: The article looks at nature and degree of complicity that gives rise to liability on the part of multinational corporations (MNCs) that operate in countries with repressive regimes. Specifically, it examines lawsuits in United States against these MNCs for violations of public international law under the federal Alien Torts Claim Act (ATCA). It also views the historical origins of corporate complicity, and examines the outcomes of British and American war crimes tribunal set up after the Second World War. Further, the article compares and contrasts these historical cases with the recent case brought in the federal district court against Unocal Corporation for alleged use of force labor in its pipeline project in Burma. (Professor Anita Ramasastry, University of Washington School of Law, in Berkeley Journal of International Law, vol. 20 no. 1, 2002)

Fifty Years in the Making: World War II Reparation and Restitution Claims [includes articles about claims against companies] - The Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium 2001 (Berkeley Journal of International Law, vol. 20, no. 1, 2002)

Doe v. Unocal: Forced Labor and Corporate Liability [Burma] - Burmese villagers brought a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court charging the consortium with profiting from forced labor. "Doe v. Unocal: Forced Labor and Corporate Liability" presents a legal issue: whether Unocal is liable for the human rights violations of its government joint venture partner. (Howard Tolley, Jr. & Anne Lawrence, THRO - Teaching Human Rights Online, Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, 2002)