WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal by Nigerians seeking to hold Chevron accountable for deaths in the Niger Delta under a U.S. law aimed at helping torture victims.
The court's action Monday follows a unanimous decision last week that the Torture Victim Protection Act allows lawsuits only against individuals.
The federal appeals court in San Francisco already had thrown out the suit by the Nigerians claiming that the company hired soldiers who shot and killed protesters at an offshore oil platform in the Niger Delta in 1998. The company claims the protesters were armed youths who were shot after they demanded money and took more than 200 workers hostage.
The case is Bowoto v. Chevron, 10-1536.
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