The Chiquita Mess Gets Messier

Things just keep getting worse for Chiquita Brands International, Inc. Yesterday, families of victims killed by a right-wing Colombia terrorist group (the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia or AUC) sued Chiquita in D.C. federal court alleging Chiquita is responsible or at least liable for the AUC’s actions.

As Kevin noted a few months ago, Chiquita, the U.S. banana giant, admitted to paying protection money to right-wing terrorist groups in Colombia and settled a criminal probe by the federal government. So Chiquita can’t claim they weren’t involved here. There probably won’t be much discovery needed to figure out the facts. But their legal problems will go on for some time. Colombia may actually seek extraditions of some Chiquita executives.

The interesting and hard legal question is whether it makes sense to hold Chiquita liable even if it did not have any intent to assist the AUC’s killings. I assume (but don’t know not having a copy of the complaint) that the lawsuit alleges violations of the Alien Tort Statute and customary international law. If so, then expect lots of litigation over standards of corporate liability under customary international law.