On December 1 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Cargill v. Doe I. There were two legal questions before the Court. The first was whether the presumption against extraterritorial application of the Alien Tort Statute is displaced by allegations that a U.S. company generally conducted oversight of its foreign operations at its headquarters and made operational and financial decisions there, even though the conduct alleged to violate international law occurred in – and the plaintiffs suffered their injuries in – a foreign country. The second question before the Court was whether a domestic corporation is subject to liability in a private action under the Alien Tort Statute.
David Rybicki is Partner at K&L Gates LLP. He joins us today to discuss this case’s oral argument.