John Roe I v. Bridgestone Corporation
United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
492 F. Supp. 2d 988 (2007)
- Written by Liz Nakamura, JD
Facts
The Firestone Rubber Plantation (plantation), located in Liberia, was owned by the Bridgestone Corporation (defendant), a Japanese company. A group of adults and children who worked on the plantation (collectively, the workers) (plaintiffs) filed a claim against Bridgestone in United States District Court under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), arguing that Bridgestone had violated international norms prohibiting forced labor and child labor. Specifically, the workers alleged that (1) their wages were too low; (2) productivity demands were too high; (3) because Liberia had approximately 85 percent unemployment, workers were afraid to risk termination by protesting onerous productivity demands; and (4) Bridgestone forced the workers’ children, aged six to 16, to work on the plantation, exposing the children to dangerous chemicals and hard labor. The workers did not allege that Bridgestone withheld wages, that they had been subjected to physical violence, or that Bridgestone prohibited workers from quitting or leaving the plantation. Bridgestone moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hamilton, J.)
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