Quinn Emanuel Wins Sweeping Cisco Case as High Court Sharply Narrows ATS Litigation Against Corporations
Quinn Emanuel capped 15 years of litigation for its client Cisco Systems, Inc. with a sweeping victory at the U.S. Supreme Court that sharply curbed the application of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) – a 1789 law that plaintiffs used for decades to sue U.S. corporations for alleged human rights violations based on their business operations abroad.
In this case, Cisco was sued by Chinese nationals who practice Falun Gong. The plaintiffs alleged that, while in China, they were subjected to acts of brutality, torture, forced labor, and other human rights abuses by Chinese security forces. They brought their suit against Cisco in U.S. federal court under the theory that Cisco allegedly aided and abetted the Chinese government’s persecution of Falun Gong members by selling it networking equipment that enabled Chinese security forces to locate, surveil and imprison them.
A 2004 Supreme Court decision, Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, had previously held that the ATS was written with the intent to provide a U.S. forum for the three original torts envisioned by Congress in 1789: piracy, violation of safe conducts, and infringement of the rights of ambassadors. But Sosa also left the door “ajar” for additional ATS claims, generating a raft of litigation against U.S. corporations for aiding and abetting violations of international law, ranging from IBM to Coca-Cola to the U.S. auto industry – and tech companies like Cisco.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court firmly closed that door in a six-justice opinion written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The court held that the ATS does not permit the judicial creation of new private causes of action for torts in violation of international law, and is limited to the three original torts envisioned by Congress more than two centuries ago. It noted that ATS suits beyond those three torts implicate foreign policy concerns and infringe the separation of powers, as the creation of private causes of action is a legislative, not a judicial, task. As a result, the court ordered the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ ATS claims.
In addition, one plaintiff brought claims against two former Cisco executives (including its former CEO) in their individual capacities under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) for allegedly aiding and abetting Chinese government torture of Falun Gong members. In an 8-1 decision, the court again ruled in Cisco’s favor and dismissed the claims, holding that the TVPA by its own terms does not recognize TVPA claims premised on aiding-and-abetting allegations.
Quinn Emanuel partners Chris Michel and Todd Anten filed the successful cert petition that led to Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling, after the firm (and retired partner Kathleen Sullivan) had litigated the case for Cisco in the Northern District of California and at the Ninth Circuit.