Court ends US battle for apartheid victims

A US Appeals Court has in all probability ended a 13-year battle in the US courts for victims seeking compensation from companies and banks they claimed aided the apartheid-era government. A three-judge panel in New York ruled yesterday the group of South African victims had failed to show a connection between the crimes and the companies’ actions in the US to let an American court handle the lawsuit, according to a report on the Moneyweb site. The ruling upholds a 2014 decision by US District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan dismissing the complaint against Ford and IBM. Scheindlin relied on a ruling by the US Supreme Court that limited the scope of the 1789 Alien Tort Statute, previously used to pursue lawsuits in the US against companies abroad.

Full Moneyweb report

In re: South African Apartheid Litigation, 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 14-4104.