By Matthew Goeller
Articles Editor, Delaware Journal of Corporate Law

Enacted in the first Judiciary Act of 1798, the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) provides federal jurisdiction to aliens alleging violations of international law. What remained a largely unused statute, the ATS reemerged in 1980 as a creative tool to hold violators of international law liable in U.S. courts, even when those violations occurred abroad or the actors were foreign citizens. As ATS jurisprudence unfolded over the last thirty years, the statute’s jurisdictional grant extended first to foreign state actors, then to private citizens, and eventually even to corporations. The Supreme Court’s decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., however, seemed to narrow the scope to which the ATS applies to corporations. Despite the Supreme Court’s holding, many circuit courts and commentators maintained that ATS liability is nonetheless still possible for corporations.

In Cardona v. Chiquita, Colombian citizens brought suit against Chiquita under the ATS, claiming that Chiquita’s support of known terrorist groups funded a brutal campaign of torture, drug trafficking, and imprisonment. The Eleventh Circuit’s holding that the ATS does not reach corporations highlights the current uncertainty as to whether the statute applies to corporations.

Adding to this uncertainty is an emerging concern that participation in international law violations might perhaps implicate a breach of fiduciary duties. Corporate directors, whose business decisions directly or indirectly involve the corporation with violators of international law, might ordinarily seek the protection of the deferential business judgment rule. However, more nuanced interpretations of fiduciary duties and more probative efforts of understanding the precise nature of those business decisions might well evince a breach of fiduciary duty. This analysis, coupled with the already present uncertainty as to the applicability of the ATS, should encourage directors of corporations to adopt more stringent governance policies that provide structural mechanisms to ensure compliance with internationally recognized legal norms.

Download the full article Peeling Back the Business Judgment Rule – Corporate Responsibility After Chiquita.

Suggested Citation: Matthew B. Goeller, Peeling Back the Business Judgment Rule: Corporate Responsibility After Chiquita, INST. DEL. CORP. & BUS. L. (May 28, 2015), http://blogs.law.widener.edu/delcorp/#sthash.7Nk3jxjd.dpbs