Oil company to stand trial for alleged Burma rights abuses (Unocal)

Australian Broadcasting Company ^ | August 01 2003

[knighthawk]

US oil giant Unocal must stand trial in California for alleged complicity in human rights abuses by Burma's military junta, including forced labour, rape and torture, a judge has ruled.

"Prior to its involvement in the pipeline project, Unocal had specific knowledge that the use of forced labour was likely, and nevertheless chose to proceed," Los Angeles Superior Court judge Victoria Chaney said.

In the decision, Judge Chaney rejected arguments by the California-based energy firm, which built a gas pipeline in Burma, that the case should be tried at least in part under Burma or Bermuda law.

Unocal had made a bid to have the long-running case shifted to the country formerly known as Burma as the alleged abuses took place there, or to Bermuda where a Unocal unit is registered.

But lawyers representing Burma villagers allegedly abused by the isolated south-east Asian nation's military regime contested the move and the judge agreed it would be offensive to allow Burma law to be applied.

But the judge said foreign laws such as Burma's "indeterminate" laws could not be given precedence if they were morally offensive to public policy, while Bermuda law was not applicable as the Unocal units cannot conduct business within the Caribbean island although they are based there.

Judge Chaney discounted allowing Burma's law to apply because "even in the unlikely event that these statutes authorised the violent and oppressive behaviour at issue in this case, this court would refrain from applying [them] for public policy reasons".

The judge's move cleared the way for plaintiffs in the case - 14 unnamed Burma nationals represented by US lawyers, to seek tougher penalties under California law.

The case centres on the construction of the much-disputed Yadana pipeline, built by Unocal and partners including France's Total to carry natural gas from Burma to neighbouring Thailand.

A lawyer for Unocal, which strongly rejects the allegations, said the firm was unhappy with the ruling and was considering whether to appeal it immediately or wait until after the trial, due to start September 22.

"We disagree with the judge's decision," Los Angeles-based attorney Daniel Petrocelli said, adding the villagers were trying to strip Unocal's Bermuda units of their corporate status to target the parent firm.

"The principal company involved ... was not even a Unocal subsidiary, even though the court referred to it as such," he said.

But Rick Herz, litigation director at the advocacy group Earthrights International in Washington and co-counsel for 11 of the plaintiffs, welcomed Judge Chaney's ruling.

"This is great - we thought their [Unocal's] arguments that Burma law applies and that Bermuda law applies were ridiculous and she [Chaney] agreed with us," he said.

"This is a great victory for the villagers," another attorney for them, Dan Stormer, said in Los Angeles.

"It prevents Unocal from playing a shell game with corporations.

"It is a great step towards obtaining justice for these ... villagers."

The villagers are suing Unocal for unspecified damages alleging that the firm benefited from use by Yangon's military regime of forced labour and its soldiers' use of murder and rape, even if it did not agree with the abuses.

In written complaints, they say they were pressed into service in the 1990s to clear a route and build facilities for the pipeline, widely described as the largest foreign-invested project in Burma.

The plaintiffs' identities have been concealed for fear of reprisals by Burma's junta.

Unocal executives have acknowledged that troops did force villagers to carry ammunition and supplies for the military and to perform other labor in the vicinity of the project, but deny that any of the labor was linked to the pipeline's construction.

Unocal owned the pipeline jointly with Total, formerly TotalFinaElf, and the Thai and Burma governments.

Total is being sued separately in Europe.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Gabrielle Reilly]

ping.

[facedown]

From another article on this subject: Unocal Will Stand Trial Over Myanmar Venture In a First, Judge Rules U.S. Company May Be Liable for Overseas Abuses

"Applying California law, Judge Chaney ruled Monday that Unocal may be liable under the legal doctrine known as "vicarious liability," plaintiffs lawyers say. That doctrine holds that joint-venture partners bear responsibility for each other's actions involving their common business."

It is appropriate that this "legal theory" is in quotes.

Note the source:

"Her ruling -- if upheld by higher courts and applied in other jurisdictions -- could subject a long list of U.S. companies to lawsuits in American courts as human-rights groups seek to expand the reach of American tort law to foreign soil."

This is the Trial Lawyer's prize.

[marron]

I am usually a big defender of Big Oil from most charges, most attacks mainly from the left make little sense if you know how the US oil industry operates.

This case is different. Burma is a nightmarish place. Unocal knows this, pretends not to know the nature of its work force or how it is treated, but their pretence is laughable. They fully know the nature of the people they are in bed with in Burma, they have been warned, and yet they chose to go ahead.

Burma is the one case that fulfills all the conspiracy theories about oil companies. Unocal needs to go down hard on this one.

[ko_kyi]

marron, you couldn't be more right. Unocal should fry.

I support big business generally, but in a free market. They made wealth in Burma by taking advantage of slavery.

[Gabrielle Reilly]

I remember standing on the Bridge on the River Kwai reflecting on its history... The scenic view was magnificent but the history grotesque. 16,000 pow and 39,000 forced labourers died a gruesome death at the hands of the Japanese in 1945. The flesh on the gaunt, pow's legs were riddled with maggots as they were forced to build the 3 mile bridge that connects Thailand to Burma. Living hell. The Bridge was brought in from Java and the "Death Railway" leads into the dangerous jungles of Burma.

Times haven't changed much.

[BOBTHENAILER]

This is the Trial Lawyer's prize.

You're right, this could open the door to a whole flood of similar "vicarious liability" lawsuits". Not a good thing at all.

I am usually a big defender of Big Oil from most charges, most attacks mainly from the left make little sense if you know how the US oil industry operates.

Couldn't agree more with that statement. However, I also agree Unocal made a big mistake not insisting on total control of operations, thus eliminating the outrages here.

The ramifications of this lawsuit are HUGE and potentially very damaging to a number of businesses.

Unocal should have understood the "law of unintended consequences" and not done business with this vile nation.

[ko_kyi]

Marron, you may be interested to hear a rumor about Burma. My wife says that many Burmese suspect Bin Laden and/or Al Qaeda is establishing a foothold in Burma. She says that in the last year or so the small Muslim population has gotten some special treatment from the Burmese government, like business guarantees, money, other types of aid.

The rest of Burma is languishing. Burma used to be a straightlaced society. Now young girls are prostituting themselves for a meal.