Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.

Kiobel and other Nigerian nationals residing in the United States (plaintiffs) sued Dutch, British, and Nigerian petroleum corporations (defendants) under the Alien Tort Statute, alleging the companies aided and abetted the Nigerian government in atrocities - including rape, murder, and property destruction - against Nigerians protesting oil exploration in the early 1990s; the plaintiffs had since obtained U.S. political asylum and legal residency. The district court partly granted and partly denied the defendants' motion to dismiss and certified interlocutory appeal, and the Second Circuit dismissed the entire complaint on the ground that corporations cannot be held liable under the law of nations; the Supreme Court granted certiorari on that question and on whether federal courts have jurisdiction over law-of-nations violations occurring in foreign territory.