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10 J. Transnat'l L. & Pol'y 109 (2000-2001)
At the Crossroads of Environmental and Human Rights Standards: Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc. - Using the Alien Tort Claims Act to Hold Multinational Corporate Violators of International Laws Accountable in U.S. Courts

handle is hein.journals/jtrnlwp10 and id is 115 raw text is: AT THE CROSSROADS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS: AGUINDA V. TEXACO, INC. USING THE ALIEN TORT CLAIMS ACT TO HOLD MULTINATIONAL CORPORATE VIOLATORS OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS ACCOUNTABLE IN U.S. COURTS LISA LAMBERT* Table of Contents I. Introduction ................................................................................ 109 II. Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc ................................................................. 112 A . Background ........................................................................... 112 B. Procedural H istory .............................................................. 114 III. Alien Tort Claim s A ct ................................................................ 117 A . Jurisdiction ............................................................................ 118 B. Passing Jurisdiction... The Next Step ............................. 119 IV. Various Hurdles in ATCA Litigation ...................................... 127 A. Forum Non Conveniens ...................................................... 127 B. International Com ity ........................................................... 129 C. The Corporate Veil ............................................................... 130 V . C onclusion ................................................................................... 131 V I. Postscrip t ..................................................................................... 132 I. INTRODUCTION In December of 1999, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Summit in Seattle, Washington, was met with several thousand unexpected attendees. Labor, environmental, and human rights activists took to the streets of Seattle to protest the WTO's exclusion of the their interests from the bargaining table.1 Multinational corporations (MNC)2 have grown and prospered, but often at the *J.D., The Florida State University, College of Law, 2001; B.A., Kent State University, 1993. This paper is dedicated to Jelly. 1. See Jonathan Peterson, Bottom Line on WTFO Still Shaky for U.S., L.A. TIMES, Nov. 29, 1999, at Al. 2. See BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 1015-16 (6th ed. 1990) (defining a MNC as a company which has centers of operation in many countries, versus an international corporation which 109

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