U.S. Appeals Court Revives Slavery Suit Against Nestle, Cargill

A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit against Nestle SA’s U.S. unit and Cargill Inc. that was filed by six former child slaves from Mali who sought to hold the cocoa importers liable for their captivity and mistreatment on farms in neighboring Ivory Coast.

The ruling Oct. 23 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that allegations the companies aided and abetted slave labor wasn’t an improper extraterritorial application of the Alien Tort Statute. A lower court judge had dismissed the case in March 2017.

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