The Future of Foreign Direct Liability? Exploring the International Relevance of the Dutch Shell Nigeria Case
The Future of Foreign Direct Liability? Exploring the International Relevance of the Dutch Shell Nigeria Case

Author: Liesbeth F.H. Enneking

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 11

ISBN-13:

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In January 2013, the The Hague district court in the Netherlands rendered a groundbreaking verdict in a civil liability suit against Royal Dutch Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary (SPDC). The lawsuit had been brought before it by four Nigerian farmers and the Dutch NGO Milieudefensie, in response to a number of oil spill incidents from SPDC-operated pipelines in the Nigerian Niger Delta. Although the majority of the claims were dismissed, the district court in its ruling did grant one claim that related to spills from an abandoned wellhead, ordering SPDC to pay compensation for the resulting loss. This judgment holds international relevance, as this Dutch Shell Nigeria Case forms part of a worldwide trend towards foreign direct liability cases. Growing numbers of similar lawsuits have been brought before courts in other Western societies, but judgments on the merits have so far remained scarce. The relevance of the case has further increased with the US Supreme Court's April 2013 ruling in the case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., which has significantly limited the scope of the Alien Tort Statute. This article explores the The Hague district court's decision in the Dutch Shell Nigeria Case, and places the case within the socio-legal context of the contemporary trend towards foreign direct liability cases, the international debates on corporate accountability and business & human rights, and the Supreme Court's judgment in the Kiobel-case.

Multinationals and Transparency in Foreign Direct Liability Cases - The Prospects for Obtaining Evidence Under the Dutch Civil Procedural Regime on the Production of Exhibits
Multinationals and Transparency in Foreign Direct Liability Cases - The Prospects for Obtaining Evidence Under the Dutch Civil Procedural Regime on the Production of Exhibits

Author: Liesbeth F.H Enneking

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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On 30 January 2013, the The Hague district court rendered a final judgment with respect to a number of civil liability claims against Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) and its Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) that had been pursued by four Nigerian farmers and the Dutch NGO Milieudefensie in relation to various oil spills from SPDC-operated pipelines in the Nigerian Niger Delta. This case, including the January 2013 ruling by the The Hague district court, is interesting for a number of reasons. One of them is that it forms part of a broader, worldwide trend towards similar civil liability procedures that has come up over the past two decades in Western societies around the world. One of the main characteristics of these so-called 'foreign direct liability cases' is the inequality of arms that typically exists between the host country plaintiffs on the one hand and the corporate defendants on the other when it comes to financial scope, level of organization and access to relevant information. As a consequence, the procedural rules pertaining to the collection of evidence that apply in the forum countries in which they are pursued typically play an important part in these cases. This also means that in countries where the prospects for obtaining evidence in civil procedures are poor, this may add a potentially crucial procedural barrier for host country plaintiffs seeking to pursue foreign direct liability claims that may be difficult to overcome. The main question to be answered in this article is what the prospects are for plaintiffs in Dutch foreign direct liability claims (i.e. foreign direct liability claims pursued before Dutch courts against multinational corporations that are based in the Netherlands) when it comes to obtaining evidence under the Dutch civil procedural regime on the production of exhibits. This question is highly relevant, since the course of the proceedings in the first and (so far) only Dutch foreign direct liability case, the Dutch Shell Nigeria case, suggest that the Dutch procedural regime on the collection of evidence may pose a significant hurdle for plaintiffs seeking to pursue foreign direct liability claims before Dutch courts.

International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability
International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability

Author: Shawkat Alam

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-27

Total Pages: 765

ISBN-13: 131753588X

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International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability provides a clear and concise insight into the relationship between the institutions that govern foreign investment, sustainable development and the rules and regulations that administer natural resources. In this book, several leading experts explore different perspectives in how investment and natural resources come together to achieve sustainable development in developing countries with examples from water, oil and gas, renewable energy, mineral, agriculture, and carbon trading. Despite varying perspectives, it is clear that several themes are central in considering the linkages between natural resources, investment and sustainability. Specifically, transparency, good governance and citizen empowerment are vital conditions which encourage positive social, economic and environmental outcomes for developing countries. In addition, this book provides new insights into key concepts which underpin international law, including sovereign rights and state responsibility principles. It is clear from this book that in the attempt to reconcile these concepts and principles from separate legal regimes, complex policy questions emerge whereby it is difficult to attain mutually beneficial or succinct outcomes. This book explores how countries prioritise their policy objectives to achieve their notion of sustainable natural resource use, which is strongly influenced by power imbalances that inform North–South cooperation, as well as South–South cooperation in the international investment regime. This book will be of great interest to students, academics and researchers of international environmental law, international human rights law, international investment law and international economic law. This book may also be of relevance to environmentalists, policy-makers, NGOs, and investors working in the natural resources field.

From Theory to Practice in Private International Law
From Theory to Practice in Private International Law

Author: Justin Borg-Barthet

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-02-22

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 1509956662

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This book, compiled in honour of the work and life of Professor Jonathan Fitchen, brings together preeminent scholars from across the private international law world to address a wide spectrum of subject matter in the discipline. It offers substantial new insights into our understanding of private international law – from theory to practice. The contributions in the book analyse a variety of conceptual and substantive problems in private international law and consider current developments in the discipline, from conceptual analyses of the evolving nature and scope of private international law to substantive problems across a range of longstanding issues on which there is insufficient scholarly analysis. These include contemporary problems of great political importance, such as environmental protection, gender-based discrimination, asymmetries of private power, and the proper delineation of public and private intervention. The authors also address emerging problems in commercial law, such as cryptocurrencies, longstanding definitional concerns in family law, and broader emerging systemic concerns, such as the treatment of authentic instruments and the place of human rights protection in global supply chains. The book is a valuable resource for the judiciary, legal practitioners, policy makers, and scholars and students of private international law.

Research Handbook on Global Governance, Business and Human Rights
Research Handbook on Global Governance, Business and Human Rights

Author: Marx, Axel

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2022-03-10

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1788979834

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This essential Research Handbook provides a comprehensive and critical assessment of the global governance instruments related to business and human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. Contributions from a diverse range of leading international scholars offer an overview of the existing literature and rapidly-evolving research discipline, as well as identifying key trends and outlining an ambitious future research agenda.

Tort Liability in Multinational Corporate Groups
Tort Liability in Multinational Corporate Groups

Author: Pınar Kara

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-06-18

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 3031293363

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Multinational corporate groups are important actors in today’s global economy, with the power to impact the masses through their activities. National legal systems, which usually have no extraterritorial authority, remain insufficient to regulate the activities of multinational corporate groups, which operate worldwide, not only in the countries where the parent companies reside (home country), but also in countries where the subsidiaries operate (host countries). The mentioned lack of an effective legislation leads to an unjust imbalance – to the benefit of multinational corporate groups and to the detriment, especially, of involuntary creditors, such as tort victims of corporate activities, which predominantly concern human rights abuses and environmental violations. Against this backdrop, the book firstly assesses the position of multinational corporate groups in international law and then discusses potential reforms to corporate law that would allow for a multi-stakeholder approach. It analyses certain aspects of Turkish tort law that could potentially accommodate liability claims against the parent companies of multinational corporate groups for damage incurred due to their transnational subsidiaries’ activities (referred to as ‘foreign direct liability’ in legal doctrine). To this end, the potential legal grounds of fault liability and strict liability are assessed under Turkish law, with a particular focus on the duty of care, in comparison with the corresponding case law in the UK and the Netherlands. Mandatory human rights due diligence is also analysed with a view to proposing a new regulation in Turkish law. Lastly, the aspects of foreign direct liability claims related to private international law are assessed in order to answer the questions of jurisdiction and applicable law within the scope of a comparative legal study.

Human Rights in Business
Human Rights in Business

Author: Juan José Álvarez Rubio

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-01-20

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 1351979159

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Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Notes on contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 Judicial remedies: The issue of jurisdiction -- 1.1 Overview -- 1.2 Impact of international human rights law on jurisdiction in private international law -- 1.2.1 Introduction -- 1.2.2 Human rights in private litigation -- 1.2.3 International human rights law and jurisdiction in private international law -- 1.3 Jurisdiction in private international law in Europe and the US -- 1.3.1 Introduction -- 1.3.2 The European approach: the Brussels I Regulation -- 1.3.2.1 Scope of application -- 1.3.2.2 Rules on jurisdiction -- 1.3.2.3 Policy debate regarding the reform of the Brussels I Regulation -- 1.3.3 The US approach to jurisdiction -- 1.3.3.1 Doctrines that may limit access to US courts in transnational cases -- 1.3.3.2 The Alien Tort Statute: presumption against extraterritoriality and personal jurisdiction -- 1.3.3.3 Further doctrines that may limit access to US courts in transnational cases -- 1.3.3.4 Litigating torts in state courts and/or under state law -- 1.3.4 Comparing the EU and US approach to jurisdiction in private international law -- 1.4 Residual jurisdiction in Europe -- 1.4.1 Introduction -- 1.4.2 Forum necessitatis -- 1.4.3 Joining of defendants -- 1.4.4 Pursuing civil remedies through criminal jurisdiction -- 1.5 Conclusions and recommendations -- 2 Judicial remedies: The issue of applicable law -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Legal context -- 2.2.1 Foreign direct liability and beyond -- 2.2.2 Private international law and extraterritoriality -- 2.2.3 Discussion -- 2.3 Applicable law -- 2.3.1 Rome II Regulation: general rule -- 2.3.2 Rome II Regulation: special rule on environmental damage -- 2.3.3 Rome II Regulation: relevant exceptions -- 2.3.3.1 Overriding mandatory provisions -- 2.3.3.2 Rules of safety and conduct.

Corporate Liability for Transboundary Environmental Harm
Corporate Liability for Transboundary Environmental Harm

Author: Peter Gailhofer

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-11-14

Total Pages: 654

ISBN-13: 3031132645

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This open access book aims to elaborate on the legal prerequisites to establish the liability of corporations for transboundary environmental harm, not only by identifying existing liability rules, principles and standards but also by analysing their potential for further legal development. The authors consider international and transboundary liability law to currently be an underutilised tool for international environmental protection. The book seeks to address this by exploring what is needed in terms of legislative action and identifying options for judicial pliability, thereby providing an important legal contribution in furthering the development of an effective international and transnational environmental liability law regime.

Human Rights Litigation Against Multinationals in Practice
Human Rights Litigation Against Multinationals in Practice

Author: Richard Meeran

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0198866224

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This book provides a thorough review of multinational human rights litigation in various countries where such litigation has been pursued, predominantly on behalf of victims in the Global South. It covers cases relating to environmental damage, occupational disease, human rights abuses involving complicity with state security, and in the context of supply chains. The volume is edited by Richard Meeran, who pioneered the first series of tort-based multinational parent company cases in the 1990s and whose firm, Leigh Day, has been at the forefront of this area for almost 30 years. Contributions come from highly experienced legal practitioners in the countries in question who have run many of the key ground-breaking cases, and who understand the opportunities and hurdles that arise in practice. They provide their perspectives and insights into the features of the relevant laws, procedures, and practical considerations in their respective legal systems. Chapters address the potential legal remedies that are available; the legal, procedural, and practical obstacles to justice including funding; as well as strategic issues. This developing area of corporate legal accountability has increasingly become an integral part of the field of business and human rights, which has grown significantly in recent decades. This collection is an essential guide to the field.

Business and Human Rights
Business and Human Rights

Author: Dalia Palombo

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-02-06

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1509928057

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This book analyses the accountability of European home States for their failure to secure the human rights of victims from host States against transnational enterprises. It argues for a reconfiguration of the relationship between multinational enterprises and individuals, both of which have been profoundly changed by globalisation. Enterprises are now supranational entities with numerous affiliates all over the world. Likewise, individuals are increasingly part of a global community. Despite this, the relationship between the two is deregulated. Addressing this gap, this study proposes an innovative business and human rights litigation strategy. Human rights advocates could file a test case against a European home State, at the European Court of Human Rights, for its failure to secure the rights of victims vis-à-vis European multinational enterprises. The book illustrates why such a strategy is needed, and points to the lack of effective legal remedies against European multinationals. The goal is to empower victims from developing countries against European States which are failing to hold multinational enterprises accountable for human rights abuses.