Alien Tort Claims Act

Issues

During the Argentine “Dirty War” of the 1970s, between 10,000 to 30,000 left-wing sympathizers disappeared. In 2004, Bauman and twenty-two Argentine citizens or residents sued DaimlerChrysler AG (“DCAG”) for violations under the Alien Tort Claims Act, claiming that DCAG’s subsidiary in Argentina ordered state security forces to rid its plant of left-wing sympathizers. DaimlerChrysler is a German company that does not manufacture or sell products in the US, but owns a subsidiary, Mercedes Benz, that sells DCAG products in the US. Bauman sued in the Northern District of California, claiming that the court had general personal jurisdiction over DCAG via Mercedes Benz USA’s contacts with California. The Ninth Circuit held that DCAG is subject to general personal jurisdiction in California because it has an indirect subsidiary that distributes DCAG-manufactured vehicles in California. Thus, the court concluded that DCAG could be sued in California for the company’s alleged human rights violations committed by an Argentine subsidiary against Argentine residents. DCAG claims that neither an alter ego theory nor agency theory establish the necessary minimum contacts to extend personal jurisdiction over DCAG. Bauman argues that the Ninth Circuit properly found general personal jurisdiction because agency theory establishes DCAG’s necessary minimum contacts with California. The Supreme Court’s decision will determine the boundaries of general personal jurisdiction—specifically, whether an indirect corporate subsidiary’s contacts with a forum state can be imputed to the parent company to confer personal jurisdiction over the parent company.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

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