U.S. court refuses to hold Occidental liable in Colombia bombing

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

U.S. court refuses to hold Occidental liable in Colombia bombing
Source: Reuters - Wed, 12 Nov 2014 18:05 GMT

By Jonathan Stempel

Nov 12 (Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to hold Occidental Petroleum Corp and a security contractor legally responsible for alleged complicity in a 1998 military bombing of a Colombian village that killed 17 people, including six children.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said victims' families could not pursue claims against Occidental and Florida-based AirScan Inc under two U.S. human rights laws, the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and Torture Victims Protection Act.

Writing for a 2-1 majority, Circuit Judge Jay Bybee cited a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum Co, in finding that the ATS did not apply because the underlying conduct occurred "exclusively" in Colombia. He also said the torture victim law does not apply to corporate defendants.

In addition, Bybee said "international comity" justified dismissal, citing a 2004 State Department memo that said letting Colombian courts handle the matter advanced U.S. foreign policy. "The crimes plaintiffs allege are abominable, but the facts of this case nonetheless favor applying adjudicatory comity," Bybee wrote.

Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta joined Bybee's 65-page decision, which upheld a 2010 lower court ruling. Both judges were appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush.


Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20141112180425-tq2sk/

[hedda_foil]

1. Jay Bybee aka The Torture Judge, formerly head of Bush 2's Office of (terrible) Legal Counsel

Ah yes, we remember him well. Check it out;

Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, who signed an infamous memo approving the Bush Administration’s use of torture while he led the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, received $3.4 million in free legal and consulting services to help him avoid accountability for his legally and morally indefensible memo. The lion’s share of this massive gift came from Latham & Watkins, a massive corporate law firm whose clients include Koch Industries, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, and Phillip Morris:

Latham & Watkins’ Maureen Mahon­ey took on a major assignment when she agreed to represent Jay Bybee, a federal appellate judge who was accused of violating ethics rules for his work at the U.S. Department of Justice on so-called “torture memos.” Newly released records show just how big the assignment was. . . . Nearly all the assistance, $3,251,893, came from Los Angeles-based Latham, whose lawyers used to appear before Bybee in the courtrooms of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/10/24/351671/corporate-law-firms-give-torture-judge-jay-bybee-over-3-million-in-free-legal-services/

I bet he's a real fun guy.

[rpannier]

2. Right after the hearing

Bybee could be seen receiving his bag of 'laundry' with the dollars sign on it from a representative of Occidental Petroleum

[Nihil]

3. Gosh ... what a surprise!

Corrupt US court cites previous corrupt US court in order to protect corrupt US corporation.

Who could have guessed it would work out that way (again)?