Supreme Court Asks Solicitor General to Opine in Pfizer Alien Torts Case; Pfizer Brings Quinn Emanuel on Board - By Alison Frankel

November 02, 2009

With corporate America itching for the U.S. Supreme Court to reign in use of the Alien Torts Statute for suits alleging overseas wrongdoing, the case that may redefine the parameters of the ATS is shaping up as a battle of ex-Harvard Law professors. On Monday the Court asked U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan (the former Harvard dean) to weigh in on Pfizer Inc v. Rabi Abdullahi, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit revived the claims of Nigerians who allege they were grievously harmed when they were administered a Pfizer meningitis drug in a government-approved clinical trial. (Here's the Second Circuit ruling)

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