Posted on November 2, 2010 by Sarah A. Altschuller
Ten years ago today, plaintiffs filed an Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) suit against Rio Tinto Plc alleging that they were the victims of numerous violations of international law as the result of Rio Tinto’s mining operations on the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Almost ten years later, on October 26, an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals referred the proposed class action, Sarei v. Rio Tinto, to a mediator “to explore the possibility of mediation.” Sarei v. Rio Tinto, 02-cv-56256 (9th Cir. October 26, 2010) (.pdf).
The selected mediator is scheduled to report before the end of November whether the case will proceed to mediation or whether it should be returned to the en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit for further consideration. More...
