Dominican Republic v. AES Corporation
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
466 F. Supp. 2d 680 (2006)
- Written by Tammy Boggs, JD
Facts
The Dominican Republic (plaintiff), a foreign country, asserted several claims against AES Corporation (defendant), a Virginia corporation, including claims for (1) nuisance, (2) civil conspiracy to commit bribery and improper waste disposal, and (3) aiding and abetting bribery and improper waste disposal. The Dominican Republic’s claims were based on an alleged scheme by AES to dump hazardous coal ash in an unsafe manner in Dominican waters. The coal ash originated in Puerto Rico. As alleged, AES (1) hired a Florida company to perform the waste transportation from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic; (2) formed a conspiracy with various Dominican officials to improperly dispose of the coal ash, using bribery as needed; and (3) effectuated the transportation and dumping of 30,000 tons of coal ash, over the course of six months, in a Dominican beach area. Eleven beach residents were allegedly killed or seriously injured by the toxic coal ash, and there were harmful environmental effects. The Dominican Republic sued AES in Virginia district court because it did not believe its own country’s courts would be fair and impartial. The Dominican Republic sought compensation for environmental damages, healthcare costs, and economic damages from loss of tourism. AES filed a motion to dismiss, which required the court to determine whether the law of the Dominican Republic applied.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lee, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
