Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Nestle, Cargill in Human Rights Lawsuit

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Nestle USA and Cargill could not be sued for alleged human rights abuses that occurred overseas.

The plaintiffs, six Mali citizens enslaved as children on Ivory Coast cocoa farms supplying the food giants, sued Nestle and Cargill for damages, alleging the companies had aided and profited from child labor. The court ruled the corporations could not be sued for the overseas abuses.

“Nearly all the conduct they allege aided and abetted forced labor—providing training, equipment, and cash to overseas farmers—occurred in the Ivory Coast,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion.

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EGLE Denies Conservation Group’s Challenge to Nestlé Water Withdrawal Permit

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy dismissed a case challenging the department’s issuance of a permit to increase water withdrawals by Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) in Osceola County.

EGLE announced on Friday it would dismiss the case, which was filed in 2018 by the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. An EGLE statement stated the groups “erred in not appealing the permit directly to circuit court.”

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Appeals Court Allows Michigan Township to Block Nestle Company Permit to Draw More Groundwater

A three-judge panel in the Michigan Court of Appeals struck down a lower court decision that required Osceola Township to approve an attempt from Nestle Waters North America to build infrastructure necessary to increase the amount of groundwater drawn from a wellhead near Evart, Michigan.

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