High Court Signals Narrow Nestle Win on Human-Rights Suits (2)

U.S. Supreme Court justices suggested they might give companies a narrow victory in a clash over human-rights lawsuits, voicing skepticism about a lawsuit that accuses Nestle SA’s U.S. unit and Cargill Inc. of complicity in the use of child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

Hearing arguments by phone, justices from across the court’s ideological spectrum questioned whether the allegations against the companies had enough of a U.S. connection to go forward. But even some of the court’s conservative members indicated reluctance to completely exempt U.S. companies from liability under a 1789 law used by activists to sue over ...