US Appeals Court Rejects Apartheid Cases Against Ford, IBM

Victims of apartheid in South Africa cannot sue IBM Corp. and Ford Motor Corp. in New York because they cannot show that the companies’ alleged offending behavior occurred in the United States, a federal appeals court said Monday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against lawsuits brought 13 years ago against the Armonk, New York-based IBM and Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford.

In its ruling, a three-judge panel cited a 2013 Supreme Court ruling severely limiting the legal reach of the 1789 Alien Tort Statute. The law was created in part to deal with piracy claims but in recent decades human rights lawyers have used it to pursue damages from individuals or companies alleged to have supported abuses around the world.

In a decision written by Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes, the 2nd Circuit in Manhattan upheld a decision by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin last year that tossed out the lawsuits because the conduct at issue occurred abroad. Close to 80 companies initially were named in the lawsuits, but the vast majority of those claims were rejected.

The lawsuits alleged that Ford provided specialized vehicles to the South African police and securities forces to help enforce apartheid — the country’s former system of white minority rule — and shared information with government officials about anti-apartheid and union activists. They said IBM designed technologies that were essential for racial separation under apartheid.

Lawyers in the case did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the July 28th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.