Environmental Claims under the Alien Tort Statute
![handle is hein.journals/berkjintlw28 and id is 525 raw text is: Environmental Claims Under the Alien Tort
Statute
Kathleen Jaeger*
[P]laintiffs' imaginative view of this Court's power must face the reality
that United States district courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. While their
power within those limits is substantial, it does not include a general writ to right
the world's wrongs.
Judge Rakoff
Aguinda v. Texaco Inc.1
I.
INTRODUCTION
Transnational companies operating in developing countries have in a
number of instances caused large scale environmental harm where they operate.2
A combination of lax environmental laws and weak enforcement meant
corporate environmental accountability was non-existent. This situation changed
somewhat with the landmark case Fil6rtiga v. Peha-Irala.3 In this case the
Alien Tort Statute (ATS) was first utilized - the statute provides that [t]he
district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a
tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United
States.'4 Fildrtiga opened up U.S. courts to address human rights abuses that
* Humboldt University of Berlin 2008; LL.M. 2010, University of California, Berkeley, School of
Law. Many thanks to Professors Buxbaum and Caron for their guidance and to the editors of the
Berkeley Journal of International Law for their tireless support.
1. Aguinda v. Texaco Inc. (Aguinda I/), 945 F. Supp. 625, 628 (S.D.N.Y. 1996).
2. For a more general background on how multi-national corporations (MNCs), especially
extractive industries, can be involved in environmental destruction and human rights abuses, see
Pauline Abadie, A New Story of David and Goliath: The Alien Tort Claims Act Gives Victims of
Environmental Injustice in the Developing World a Viable Claim Against Multinational
Corporations, 34 GOLDEN GATE L. REV. 745, 749-751 (2004).
3. Filfrtiga v. Pefia-trala, 630 F.2d 876 (2d Cir. 1980).
4. 28 U.S.C. § 1350. The Alien Tort Statute (ATS), originally enacted by Congress in 1789
and was also referred to as the Alien Torts Claims Act (ATCA) but after the Supreme Court in Sosa](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/berkjintlw28&div=20&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Environmental Claims under the Alien Tort Statute
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