Automakers hit with apartheid claims
Automotive News, March 3, 2008
WASHINGTON ù Apartheid, South Africa's official system of racial segregation, ended in 1994. But several automakers still face damage claims for human rights abuses under the system.
Car companies named in lawsuits by apartheid victims are General Motors, Ford Motor Co., the former DaimlerChrysler AG and Isuzu Motors America Inc. They are among dozens of international companies that have been sued for hundreds of billions of dollars for "aiding and abetting" apartheid in South Africa.
Last October, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that the suits can proceed. The companies are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject that ruling.
The companies seek to prevent a major expansion of rights for citizens of other countries to sue in U.S. courts. The Bush administration and major business associations support the challenge.
The federal government often encourages companies to do business in countries with policies that Americans oppose, notes a court brief filed Feb. 11 by the National Association of Manufacturers and other business groups. The rationale is that "commercial engagement would do more to improve conditions" in those countries than isolation, the brief says
During the apartheid era, the U.S. government imposed economic sanctions on South Africa but allowed trade, with conditions.
The manufacturers' brief argues that allowing the lawsuits to continue "converts the foreign policies of the U.S. government into an afterthought, exposing companies to years of litigation and adverse publicity."
The Supreme Court must decide whether to accept the appeal before it considers arguments in the case. Justices get about 10,000 petitions a year and typically accept fewer than 100.
"If any case calls out for Supreme Court review, it is this one," said Quentin Riegel, vice president for litigation at the manufacturers association. He told Automotive News he could not predict what the high court will do.
The case title is American Isuzu Motors Inc., et al., v. Lungisile Ntsebeza, et al. Isuzu's North American business unit is now Isuzu Motors America.
At issue in the case is an 18th century U.S. law called the alien tort statute. It was designed in part to be a remedy for victims of piracy.
